


Take Your Time

by alphabets0up



Category: BLACKPINK (Band)
Genre: 3mix, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Chaelisa - Freeform, Childhood Friends, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, Pining, Seulrene, but still a happy ending, jensoo, jisoo's kind of slow but she'll get there, just like a tiny bit of angst, mamamoo side characters, more angst than intended im sorry, red velvet side characters, squint for some side ships, twice side characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 38,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28024407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphabets0up/pseuds/alphabets0up
Summary: It takes seven rings for Jisoo to realize that she's been in love with Jennie all along.
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Kang Seulgi, Im Nayeon/Park Jisoo | Jihyo/Yoo Jeongyeon, Jennie Kim/Kim Jisoo, Lalisa Manoban | Lisa/Park Chaeyoung | Rosé
Comments: 84
Kudos: 305





	1. I

-I-

The first time Jisoo sees Jennie, she finds her crying on her first day of school.

The playground is no place to be sad, Jisoo thinks as she grabs her bucket of candy. The girl even has stamps on her arm! Jisoo knows that it means that she did well today. Her teacher said so! But why is she sad?

A five-and-a-half year old Jisoo stands up from her place in the sandbox, waddling her way over to the crying girl on the swing.

"What's wrong?" Jisoo asks, looking down at the teary-eyed girl.

The girl in question sniffles and looks at Jisoo, "Wanna go home, no friends here.”

She suddenly falls back into silence, with both of her hands quickly covering her mouth. More tears track down her fluffy cheeks.

Jisoo doesn't seem to mind the girl's sudden silence as she exclaims, "I can be your friend!"

"Mama said not to talk to strangers," The small girl mumbles and wipes at her cheeks with her hands.

Jisoo grabs the girl's sticky hand and shakes it enthusiastically, "I'm Jisoo! What's your name?" She introduces herself, smiling even brighter when she realizes that  _ both _ of the girl's arms are filled with star stamps, "My Eomma said we can't be strangers if we know names!"

That seems to make sense to a four year old Jennie as she clumsily stands up.

"Okay, I-- I'm Jennie. I'm four," She says shyly, looking back at the ground.

"I'm five and a half!" Jisoo says proudly, her chest puffing, "I'm your unnie, let's be friends!" She says and grabs a handful of candies from her bucket, handing them to Jennie.

Jennie takes the candies hesitantly, noticing that Jisoo only has a single star stamp on her arm. A small smile forms on her face. Someone with a star can't be a bad person.

"Okay, Jisoo unnie," She mumbles, slowly looking up to meet Jisoo’s bright eyes.

After that, Jisoo invites Jennie to play with her. It doesn't take long for Jennie to let loose with Jisoo and her fears of being alone are long forgotten. Jisoo's quite the sociable child as she brings Jennie around to play with the other kids and talk to their teachers too.

Jennie doesn't understand how Jisoo is so brave, but Jisoo tells her it's because she's five and a half now. Nothing can stop her when she's six, she says, and Jennie believes her.

They play until their teachers tell them that it's time for them to go home. Jisoo doesn't know why, but her teacher calls for her suddenly and gives her another star on her arm with a gentle smile on her face.

"Why don't you tell Jennie that you got another star today?" Her teacher says, and Jisoo nods, too happy to remember to ask why she’s given another stamp as she smiles widely.

"Jennie!" Jisoo calls for her new friend, padding towards her as fast as she can, "I got another star!"

"That's great Jisoo unnie!" Jennie grins brightly, her cheeks puffing up when she smiles.

"This is for you!" Jisoo says all of a sudden, and hands a piece of tied red yarn to her, "You put it on your finger like this!" Jisoo shows her right hand with a bright red string on it, "I asked teacher Joohyun to tie it for me!"

"She said it's a fr-- friendchip ring!" She exclaims loudly, "It means we're friends now!"

Jennie goes home with a piece of yarn tied to her finger, and the biggest smile on her face as she tells her Mama about her new friend Jisoo.


	2. II

-II-

Jennie and Jisoo easily become inseparable ever since Jisoo gave Jennie that piece of yarn all those years ago. Jisoo argues that it’s the candy that’s gotten Jennie and her sweet tooth to stay, but Jennie rolls her eyes and says otherwise. Now wherever Jisoo is, everyone knows that Jennie isn't far behind.

But this is also how a twelve year old Jisoo, and an eleven year old Jennie find themselves stuck in detention for cutting class for a quick trip to the arcade.

Jennie is horrified, and Jisoo doesn't seem affected by it at all as they stay seated beside each other in the empty classroom with their teacher not so vigilantly watching over them.

"I told you we'd get caught!" Jennie exclaims as soon as the teacher had excused themselves to go to the washroom.

"Yeah, but we still had fun!" Jisoo says, grinning like they aren’t trapped in detention, "Besides, it's just this once Jendeukie. I promise we'll never get caught again!"

Jennie massages her temples, "We shouldn't cut class again," She says, ever the stickler for rules. She has to, if she wants to be a lawyer, after all, "Not hide better, Jisoo unnie. We could get suspended the next time!"

"If we get suspended, then that's a whole week of arcade trips! We could even go to a karaoke, or to the amusement park and I'll buy all the snacks!" Jisoo says with a sparkle in her eyes.

"With what money?" Jennie raises a brow, and Jisoo pouts.

"Alright, you got me there," She says and huffs, crossing her arms. Jennie feels quite victorious until the sound of her grumbling stomach breaks the silence.

Jisoo frowns at the sound, "I told you, you don't eat enough. Even Eomma agrees with me!" She accuses Jennie with a pout.

"No, your family just eats too much," Jennie answers back, "I don't understand how you guys always have snacks--" Jennie stops in her tracks and sighs when Jisoo brandishes packs of biscuits from out of nowhere.

"Yeah, that," Jennie gestures at Jisoo's snacks to get her point across.

"You never know when your tummy has an emergency, Jendeuk," Jisoo says and hands Jennie some of her food, "Like right now. What would you do without me?"

Jennie rolls her eyes, but accepts it anyway. Their teacher is taking an awfully long time to get back. She hopes they don't get caught eating in the classroom or that their teacher hasn't forgotten about them completely.

Both Jennie and Jisoo focus on their snacks, the sounds of the wrappers and the crunch of their food breaking the silence of the room.

"I'm sorry, Jennie-ah," Jisoo apologizes suddenly, her voice uncharacteristically small when she’s usually so loud, "I know you don't like getting into trouble. I just wanted to hang out with you since you're always busy studying," She explains.

Jennie doesn't respond and opens a pack of ring pops from Jisoo’s stash of snacks. The silence drowns on as she grabs a red one and hands one of the same color to Jisoo.

"But those are for you?” Jisoo tilts her head, confused, “Strawberry's your favorite," Jisoo's eyebrows are scrunched when the candy’s placed firmly in her hand.

"You gave me half of your snacks even if you know that I'll only be able to finish one," Jennie says as she slips the ring pop into her own finger, "Take this as our new friendship ring."

At that Jisoo beams and wears the plastic ring, brandishing it like it's gold, "It's our best friends forever friendship ring then!"


	3. III

-III-

When Jennie's family suggests moving to New Zealand so that Jennie can better pursue her studies, Jisoo's all for it. Jennie's hesitant at first, not wanting to stay so far away from her best friend, but Jisoo convinces her it would be for the best since she wants to be a lawyer.

With her best friend’s encouragement, Jennie moves away, but not without Jisoo stuffing her jacket pockets with snacks before she boards the plane. Jisoo knows Jennie would be too nervous on the plane ride to eat before leaving, after all.

Jennie cries as they say their goodbyes, but Jisoo holds strong for the both of them.

Jisoo didn't think she'd miss Jennie this much. Her days are much more empty without her dumpling-cheeked best friend. Calling her from across the world is much too expensive to be doing all the time, even when she does stop buying so much snacks to save money to be able to call Jennie.

Eventually, they talk to each other less and less with both of their lives becoming increasingly busier. Jennie always cuts their calls short because she has things to study for, and the time difference becomes increasingly harder for Jisoo to be able to call at a time when they're both free.

Jisoo never really knew what she wanted to do when she grew up, so when she gets a few offers and calling cards from agencies about being an idol, she decides to try it. After all she does love to sing, and being the center of attention has never been a problem for Jisoo.

* * *

Four years pass like the blink of an eye, and Jisoo's finally found her dream.

She slides down to the floor, dead tired from practicing as the music repeats itself. If someone told her she'd be sacrificing all of her snacks and her beloved sleep to practice dancing, she wouldn't have believed them. But as the date for another evaluation draws near, Jisoo has to push her hardest to get better marks. She's been here for a year, but Jisoo knows she isn't halfway there just yet.

She wants to be an idol, after all.

Huffing tiredly, Jisoo crawls towards her duffle bag and whips her sticker-bombed phone out.

She frowns when she sees that Jennie still hasn't replied to her messages. It's been a few weeks now, and her best friend has never gone this long without at least saying hello.

Jisoo tosses her phone back into her bag. Getting up, she turns off the music and is about to leave the practice room when she hears a lot of loud voices outside.

"Oh, Jisoo!" One of her fellow trainees calls for her, "Have you heard the news?"

"Huh?" Jisoo asks, leaning on the wall beside her. She just wants to go back to her room and take a short nap while she still can.

"There's a new trainee!" The other girl says excitedly. Jisoo doesn't get the hype, there’s always new trainees around anyway.

"Yeah, but there's always new trainees. What's new?" Jisoo raises a brow, not wanting to extend their conversation for much longer. All she wants to do is go back to her room and sleep.

"The new trainee's from New Zealand, and rumor has it that YG-nim loves her already. She might debut early," The trainee gossips as she whips her head back and forth, trying to look for the newbie.

Both of Jisoo's brows shoot up. She isn’t registering much but she does catch something important, "New Zealand?"

"Yeah, and she's super pretty too," She says and huffs, "I'm a bit jealous, actually... Oh, here she comes!"

"Jisoo unnie!" A voice yells from across the hallway.

Jisoo doesn't even have enough time to process anything when she's suddenly engulfed in a strong embrace. Her duffle bag slips off of her shoulder and falls to the ground loudly.

"What—" Jisoo struggles to get out of the hug, and she's sure her sweat's probably already transferred to the girl— the new trainee she assumes— who refuses to let go.

Why does she even know her name?

"I missed you so much… I— I'm sorry I didn't reply... I wanted to surprise you, unnie," She whispers into the hug. Her voice and her warmth feel so familiar, and Jisoo doesn’t even know why it does. But Jisoo’s suddenly jerked back into reality when her brain finally connects the dots.

"Jennie?!" The older girl finally manages to separate herself from her best friend, but Jennie slowly takes both of Jisoo's hands into her own.

Jisoo takes a good look at Jennie as she squeezes their hands together. Jennie's dumpling cheeks stay the same, if not a little red from running, but she’s changed so much since they last saw each other. She even stands at Jisoo’s height now.

"It's been so long," Jisoo breathes out, her brain still unconvinced that her best friend’s right in front of her, "But I thought you were—"

"Let's catch up later," Jennie says rather shyly, as she looks around. Her face is getting even redder, Jisoo notes, "People are staring at us..."

"That's your fault for coming at me like that," Jisoo chuckles loudly like they’ve never been apart, and Jennie smiles right back at her.

Jennie picks up Jisoo’s bag from the ground and the pair leave behind a confused audience of onlookers as they walk away from the crowd. They talk like they've never left each other's sides.

* * *

It takes a few weeks until Jisoo's able to coax out the reason why Jennie's back in Korea, and most importantly, why she's now a trainee at YG.

They're both settled in a large bath, naked as the day they were born. This is definitely something new for them, but Jennie suggested they try the bathhouse after passing by it a couple of times after training.

They talk about their aspirations, and it doesn't even feel weird at all to be seated beside each other naked. Jisoo supposes that it's because of their closeness and she's fairly amused when she notices that Jennie's cheeks have turned a deeper shade of red because of the warm water.

"So why did you come back, Jendeukie?" Jisoo finally asks, nudging her best friend, "You wanted to become a lawyer, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't think I'm cut out for it," Jennie says, suddenly averting her gaze away from Jisoo as she speaks, "There's so much to study for it, and I’m not as brave as you to face people like that,” She gestures vaguely, pausing to look at Jisoo to get her point across. Suddenly, Jennie bites her lip when their eyes meet. Jisoo doesn’t move, and waits patiently for Jennie to continue.

Jennie swiftly looks away again, “A-and I found out singing, dancing, and writing songs with you when we’d call each other is much more fun. When you told me you got in as a trainee in YG… I decided that I wanted to try it out too," She shrugs.

Jisoo is taken back to when Jennie was still in New Zealand, and they would write lyrics over existing songs, or they'd change some things and sing to it over their limited calls since they could no longer go to a karaoke together. Jisoo recalls Jennie excitedly telling her that she’s joined some after school clubs for music, just like Jisoo did herself. 

Her memory is the most vivid when she remembers the day she called Jennie to tell her that she had become a trainee to become an idol, and how proud Jennie had sounded over the phone when she congratulated her.

"Jisoo-yah," Jennie says softly, finally meeting Jisoo’s gaze, "I hope we debut together," She mutters and leans her head on Jisoo's shoulder.

"I hope so too," Jisoo says and feels Jennie slip something into her hand under the water.

"What's this?" She asks as she feels for the item in her hand. It's definitely a ring, she surmises and recalls how Jennie started to wear a pair of rings hanging on a thin silver chain on her neck earlier this week.

"I was able to save up some money for a better friendship ring," Jennie says, and Jisoo finally notices the necklace with now just a single ring resting around the younger girl's neck, "I don't think wearing a yellow plastic ring all the time is going to work, after all," She jokes.

Jisoo snorts, "This is definitely a big step up from having yarn rings, that's for sure," She smiles widely, meeting her best friend’s affectionate gaze.

"We'll debut together," Jisoo says with finality as she slips the ring into her ring finger, "I'm sure of it."


	4. IV.I

-IV.I-

As their training goes on, Jisoo and Jennie watch other trainees debut and some quit as they slowly move forward, supporting each other through their many ups and downs.

Besides their close friends such as Nayeon and Jihyo who are trainees from JYP, both Jennie and Jisoo haven't made a lot of friends inside their own company. The competition inside is too fierce to make friends, and it doesn't help that the trainees  _ still _ feel threatened by Jennie's presence. 

Ever since she arrived, everyone's noticed that the company's put a lot of attention on her. Jennie Kim’s got it all; the looks, the talent (a triple threat at that!) and she can even speak English perfectly! It's strikingly obvious that she's going to debut in the future. Despite Jennie's intimidating looks, Jisoo knows that it's just a front she has to keep harm away from herself. She’s really just as soft as a dumpling in reality. This is why Jisoo makes sure to always be there to protect her.

That is until two foreign trainees arrive in the company almost simultaneously. Park Chaeyoung is a Korean who's lived in Australia for most of her life, and Lalisa Manoban is a foreigner from Thailand. Both of them can barely speak the language and Jisoo can already hear the other trainees whispering amongst themselves, further alienating the two newbies. It's already bad enough that they both stick out like sore thumbs with how tall they are. Frowning at the gossiping girls, she pulls Jennie with her towards the two new trainees.

"Hi, I'm Jisoo!" She says with the English she (barely) knows, "This is Jennie! She's English too!" Jisoo grins eagerly, then quickly looks at Jennie, "Jendeukie, help me talk to them," She says in Korean.

The two trainees crack a smile at Jisoo. It’s the first set of genuine smiles she’s seen from them ever since they got here, "Hello. I'm Chaeyoung," The first one introduces herself in Korean with a soft voice and a hurried bow, as if she forgot that she had to. Jisoo wants to protect her.

"Hi, I'm Lisa," The taller girl introduces herself with a small smile and broken Korean. When she bows, her bangs get in the way and she has to fix them on the way back up. Jisoo wants to protect her.

"Hey, I'm Jennie," Jennie introduces herself coolly in English. Jennie's accent seems to make Chaeyoung very excited, "You guys don't have to be so formal with us," She continues with a smile and that breaks the ice quickly.

"You're an Aussie too?!" Chaeyoung says loudly in English, "The accent!" Jisoo doesn't understand a thing, but Jennie seems to be clarifying something, and they all suddenly jump into a conversation that Jisoo can’t understand completely. Either way, Jisoo’s happy the two new trainees have someone they can relate to now.

When they all start talking amongst each other excitedly, Jennie translates most of the conversation back and forth so Jisoo wouldn't be left out, adding in her own comments too. Jisoo hopes it isn't too much of a bother for Jennie. She knows that her best friend isn't one to talk to new people so readily, but when she sees Jennie's gummy smile flashed right at her when Chaeyoung suddenly brings up a conversation about vegemite, of all things, (Jisoo doesn't know what it is, and Lisa tells her she doesn't need to know) Jisoo knows she's made the right choice.

She promises herself to protect them all.

* * *

Jisoo, Jennie, Chaeyoung and Lisa become the best of friends despite the fierce competition. They've watched trainees come and go with all the ugly fights that come with it. They promise each other to never let their careers come in between their friendship.

The promise is broken when Lisa is suddenly called to report to the higher ups. Jennie and Jisoo have been in the company for long enough to know what it means.

Lisa's either going to debut or get kicked out.

When the pair explain this to Chaeyoung as Lisa leaves, not wanting to worry the maknae of their little group, Chaeyoung understandably panics. Everyone does, really, as they wait for Lisa’s return in Jisoo and Jennie’s shared dorm room. 

Jisoo tries her best to keep everyone’s morale up, but they can’t help but feel a bit antsy. Lisa has snuck out of the dorms every now and then for a convenience store run or to even have a taste of how it is to be a regular teen who goes out to party, but who hasn’t? Despite the competition, all the trainees are respectable enough to help anyone hide any evidence of anyone going out. They all know how it feels like to miss out on your youth.

When Lisa comes back to their dorm a little later, she excitedly calls for Jennie to get going, because she has a meeting waiting for her too.

Jennie blinks, frozen for a moment as Jisoo squeezes their joint hands, “Lisa-yah looks happy... Maybe it isn’t something serious,” She comforts her best friend. Jennie only nods, her gaze focused on the open door before she slowly gets up to leave.

When Jennie leaves, it almost feels like slow motion as she closes the door. She doesn’t notice Lisa and Chaeyoung coming up to both of her sides to engulf her in a big hug.

Jennie comes back looking both elated and extremely nervous as she stands by the doorway, telling Chaeyoung to go next. They leave together because Jennie knows that even until today, the younger girl still gets lost around the building.

Jisoo has a feeling that she knows what this is about. She decides to busy herself with her phone and hope for the best. Lisa offers to be her player two for her video game despite the fact that she doesn’t really know how to play the game while Jennie’s out with Chaeyoung.

When Chaeyoung and Jennie come back with no further news and dimmed smiles, Jisoo already knows what they’re trying to hide. Jisoo steels herself, she knows she can’t falter when it comes to her closest friends.

“So you guys are debuting?” Jisoo asks, straight to the point. She doesn’t want to prolong what they’re trying to hide anymore, “Who else is part of the lineup?”

“We don’t know, unnie,” Chaeyoung says, with her voice small, “They didn’t tell me to call anyone else… It might just be the three of us.”

“I see,” Jisoo nods at that and looks at the three girls who look at her worriedly. She swallows up all of her emotions at the moment, because she knows that they deserve a proper congratulations.

“Congratulations, you guys!” Jisoo beams as wide as she possibly can, hiding her own anguish, “I know you guys aren’t allowed to say the rest of the details, but I’ll catch up and you guys better be afraid of MC Chu rocking your world!” She jokes, but her voice is already choked up. 

“Unnie!” Chaeyoung is the first one to dive into Jisoo’s arms and bursts into tears. Lisa is quick to follow. However Jennie bites her lip and hugs herself instead. Jisoo hates how Jennie looks when she’s sad, how downcast all of them look right now.

“You’re supposed— supposed to debut with us,” Jennie mutters shakily, “You’ve trained the longest out of all of us, and you’re so good at what you do! So why—”

“Jendeukie, how long I’ve trained doesn’t really matter,” She says gently, reaching over for Jennie’s hand while both Chaeyoung and Lisa have their long arms tightly wound against her torso, “It’s their decision, and I guess I… just wasn’t good enough.”

“That’s a lie!” Lisa raises her already watery voice and sniffles, “You’re amazing unnie, why can’t they see that?!”

“It’s okay, you guys,” Jisoo tries her best to comfort them despite the crack in her voice, “I’ll debut next, you’ll see,” She says with all the strength she can muster.

Deep down, Jisoo wishes she could believe in her own words too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i did say canon divergence and slight angst :")


	5. IV.II

-IV.II-

A week passes and news of YG’s new girl group is already out to the rest of the trainees. Jennie’s pretty sure with all the chatter, there’s already some leaks outside of the company as well. However, she doesn’t find herself excited at the prospect of finally debuting. Jisoo can sense it. The older girl has been trying to lift her mood, even if Jennie thinks that she should be the one comforting Jisoo and not the other way around.

Frustrated, Jennie sighs, recalling what the management had told her.

She would be the leader of the group  _ Pink Punk _ alongside a few other members. They didn’t give her an exact number yet as to how many, but they did tell her that they weren’t done choosing members yet. 

“Hey unnie,” Lisa says as she plops down beside Jennie on the floor. The three of them have been practicing separately from the rest of the trainees for a dance practice teaser. They’ve decided to take a break while Chaeyoung decided to get some air outside of the stuffy studio.

“What’s up?” Jennie asks as she hands the tall girl a bottle of water who receives it gratefully as she downs the bottle in one go.

“It sucks that Jisoo isn’t gonna be with us,” Lisa says bluntly, and Jennie winces. She knows that Lisa gets like this when she’s tired, but Jennie can’t help but feel hurt.

“She’s so talented… and she’ll definitely be leading all the interviews and variety shows and like, are they blind?” The tall girl asks, sighing tiredly.

  
“I ask myself that too, Lisa,” Jennie huffs tiredly as she averts her gaze to the ground.

“Why can’t we just tell them that we won’t debut without Jisoo unnie?” Lisa wonders out loud, frustrated.

“It doesn’t work like that, Lisa,” Jennie says dismissively, “They’ve got a ton of trainees to replace us if we all quit anyway.”

“Replace?” Lisa raises a brow, glaring right at Jennie. The smaller girl can already feel her patience thinning, “They could replace me or Chaeyoung-ah, but they’d never replace you, YG princess. I bet if you walked up there and told them you wanted Jisoo in, then—”

“And then what?!” Jennie gets up and snarls, “I get kicked out for saying something so cocky? I didn’t stay here for so long only to get kicked out the moment I got in, Lisa!”

Lisa stands up to her full height, glaring right at Jennie as they continue to yell at each other. In the middle of their heated argument, Chaeyoung bursts into the room with wide eyes.

“You guys—” Chaeyoung tries to stop them, but is quickly overpowered by Lisa’s booming voice.

“ _ Please _ if anyone can be cocky here, it’s you, little miss perfect! If you  _ really _ wanted Jisoo to be here, you would’ve done so by now! Or are you actually her best fr—”

Jennie cuts her off, absolutely furious at the accusation, “Do you think _ I _ like being the center of attention all the time, the “perfect” one for YG? The one everyone gets to pick apart on a microscope when I’m trying to just live my life?! I— I moved back here for Jisoo! I— I just want to debut with her!”

“Then why aren’t you doing anything about it?!” Lisa yells and stomps towards Jennie, pushing her towards the mirrored wall. It’s at that moment Chaeyoung decides to dash out of the room. Her presence goes unnoticed by the duo who are busy with their shouting match.

“Do I look like I make the rules?!” Jennie practically growls out, sizing Lisa up despite being cornered.

“Yes you do, leader-nim,” Lisa mocks, making sure to look down on the shorter girl.

“You—”

“JENNIE! LISA!” A low voice booms, and both of them flinch at the sound. Jisoo storms into the room with a frown and a worried Chaeyoung following not so far behind. Her sharp steps are what cause the pair to step away from each other.

“The both of you,” Jisoo says calmly, yet her words pierce through the sudden silence, commanding everyone to focus on her, “ _ Everyone _ can hear you outside this practice room, and I know that you both don’t care about that… But we promised to never fight like this,” She gestures towards both Jennie and Lisa, trying to hide the hurt written across her face.

“But Jisoo unnie—” Lisa tries to defend herself.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Jisoo says bluntly, her shoulders squared. The eldest takes deep breaths and holds onto both Lisa and Jennie’s hands, clutching them tightly. Chaeyoung moves to the opposite side of the trio, holding Lisa and Jennie’s free hands as well to form a small circle amongst themselves.

“I know you all want to debut with me, because I’m amazing. I can’t deny that,” Jisoo suddenly jokes despite her stern demeanor earlier, making everyone cool down and let out a small laugh, “But sometimes, things don’t go the way we want it to, even if it seems unfair. I may not be onstage to perform with you, but I’ll be supporting you guys all the way. Okay?” Jisoo squeezes their hands. Chaeyoung is the first to let go to wipe her tears that begin to well from her eyes.

“You guys made Chaeyoung-ah cry,” Jisoo says like they’ve done a grave sin (which they have, really, Jennie won’t deny that) and lets go of their joint hands. The eldest reaches for Chaeyoung to pull her into a strong embrace. 

Looking at both Lisa and Jennie with a small frown on her face as she rubs Chaeyoung’s back in comforting circles, she continues, “If anyone has any issues with each other, it’s time to admit everything now. You guys should debut on a clean slate, not with any resentment, okay?”

Both Lisa and Jennie look at each other and shift awkwardly, unsure of where to start.

“I have s— something to say,” Chaeyoung says, pulling away from Jisoo as she balls her fists, clutching onto her long sweater paws, “I hate it when you two fight! There’s no reason to be jealous of anyone, because we’re all here now, right?” She elaborates but quickly regrets it when both Lisa and Jennie look away. Jisoo smiles at her, patting her back at the effort. It’s easy to see that the eldest’s smile doesn’t reach her eyes at all.

“I didn’t mean to say it like that,” Chaeyoung tries to fix the situation she just caused, “Let’s just please talk everything out without fighting…”

“You know what?” Jennie suddenly speaks up, catching everyone’s attention, “I’ll do it. I’ll tell them that I’ll quit if Jisoo doesn’t debut with us,” Jennie doesn’t even wait for a response as she marches towards the door with determination in her steps, slamming it shut as she leaves. There’s a pregnant pause before everyone else gains their bearings.

“Jennie unnie!” Chaeyoung panics, her sweater paws flailing with her arms.

“Jennie unnie, wait!” Lisa shouts desperately, “Don’t do it! I’m stupid, and I took it out on you, don’t do it!” She shouts, trying to catch up to Jennie. The older girl doesn’t seem to want to listen to reason as she runs towards an open elevator.

Jisoo makes a run for it too, and is surprisingly much faster than Lisa. She grabs onto Jennie’s wrist before she can close the elevator’s doors, “Jendeukie, please don’t,” She pleads,“I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you lose your chance because of me... It’s not worth it.”

“JIsoo,” Jennie mutters softly, and Jisoo can’t decipher the look in her eyes at all, “You’ll always be worth it,” Is all she says before she pushes Jisoo’s arm out of the elevator and closes the door shut.

“Jennie!”

* * *

By some stroke of luck, when Jennie arrived at their company’s main office, they were already considering Jisoo as the final member of  _ Pink Punk _ ’s lineup. She knows this because she crashed into the meeting room, just as they were talking about it with a frown on the CEO’s face and a large picture of Jisoo presented on their projector.

It also didn’t take long for them to find out about Lisa and Jennie’s not-so-little fight before she came in and crashed the meeting. The company called for all four of them to come up to scold the group and to give them the good news despite their scuffle. 

The company also decided to rename the group to  _ BLACKPINK _ after Jisoo somehow had the audacity to tell their CEO that the name _ Pink Punk _ sounded terrible. With one glance towards the rest of the members, Jisoo confidently proposed _ Blackpink  _ as a substitute name. 

Of course, Jennie, Lisa and Chaeyoung are quick to back their unnie up whilst discovering the CEO’s distaste (and the rest of the board’s liking) for Jisoo’s bluntness. Unfortunately, Jennie’s recklessness and Jisoo’s audacity ends up being the reason as to why they longer have a leader in their group as well. 

Jennie doesn’t exactly mind, as long as she gets to debut with Jisoo.

* * *

Blackpink’s debut is successful and to most people, it is to be expected.

But Jennie still can’t believe it. They’ve guested on numerous variety shows, won on some music shows, filmed their own MV where they all get more than just a few seconds of screentime, and they’ve done some fansigns to top it all off. Despite their exhausting schedules, Jennie feels like she’s on cloud nine. Being able to debut in a group was one thing, but being able to have Jisoo with her along the ride feels like an absolute dream come true. 

The four of them now live in a separate dorm, away from the rest of the trainees. They even have their own rooms, much to everyone’s surprise. Jennie doesn’t really use hers, though. After years of sleeping beside Jisoo, she’s no longer used to falling asleep without her. (She doesn’t really know how she managed in New Zealand, honestly.) Her fellow members maximize their own personal space, however, and sometimes Jennie can’t stand the mess.

At least she doesn’t have to think about that now, she thinks as she rests her head on Jisoo’s shoulder. The four of them are on their way to their first ever concert, and Jennie can’t help but feel nervous. They’ve performed their debut song,  _ Boombayah _ and their b-sides on various music shows and variety shows, but never on such a large stadium. Will the concert grounds be packed? What if she messes up on stage?

Before Jennie can overthink everything and vomit out everything Jisoo told (nagged) her to eat for breakfast, her best friend’s starts poking at her cheek.

“Mandu-yah,” Jisoo coos slowly. Jennie’s cheeks feel warm from the sound of one of Jisoo’s many nicknames for her, “I can hear your thoughts from here,” She whispers, not wanting to wake Lisa and Chaeyoung, the pair sleeping against each other peacefully at the back of the van. Jennie can even hear Lisa snoring, but it doesn’t really do anything to stop her nerves from taking over.

“Are you nervous?” Jisoo asks, but doesn’t wait for an answer when she continues, “It’ll be okay. If we could do it in all of those other stages, this should be easy,” She says so tenderly that Jennie can’t help but let her thoughts drift.

Jennie having to go to New Zealand for her studies and coming back to become a trainee had made her realize a lot of things. The most obvious being that she really isn’t cut out for being a lawyer as soon as she read about all the studying and everything else required of her to get there. Her dream of being a lawyer was mostly influenced by her mother, anyway. She just wanted to make her proud at first.

But the moment she talked to her parents about her woes, they convinced her to go back to Korea. To try out for YG, because no matter what, they’d still be proud of her. She’s forever grateful for her parents’ support, because without them she wouldn’t even be in this van with Jisoo.

“I… just want to make everyone proud,” Jennie finally breathes out, hoping that she didn’t take too long to answer, “I don’t want to screw everything up.”

Jisoo hums, nodding as she reaches for Jennie’s hand.

“Are you proud of yourself?”

Jisoo asks, and Jennie finds herself stunned.

“Of myself?” The younger girl repeats.

“Yeah,” Jisoo says, “It’s your life after all, Jendeukie-ah. Whether anyone’s proud of you— which, we all are I’m sure— shouldn’t always matter. You should think of yourself first sometimes, you know? Like, are you happy right now?”

“This all feels like a dream come true, even when it gets hard, unnie,” Jennie honestly answers as the van comes to a stop, “If this is all a dream, I don’t want to wake up.”

“Yeah?” Jisoo says with a wide smile as they both get out of the van. The morning sun peaks out in the horizon as they walk towards their waiting rooms, as if greeting them on their way to the concert grounds.

“Then let’s keep dreaming together.”

The rest of Blackpink and their stylists get them ready for the concert. A variety of staff run to and fro various areas to make sure the concert goes smoothly. Meanwhile, the members go over their dances and lyrics as they get their makeup done. It takes a few hours, but everything is set. Jennie remembers Jisoo’s words and forgets her worries. She stands with her members right behind the heavy curtain to the stage.

Just before they start, Jisoo pulls Jennie aside and gives her a copper ring that gleams as if it were rose gold. Jennie’s completely speechless as Jisoo slips it on her finger, right beside their friendship ring.

“This is just the start of our dream, Jennie-ah,” Jisoo says determinedly, her eyes gleaming with an otherworldly glow, “Let’s start it with a concert they’ll never forget.”

Jisoo quickly repositions the both of them to their starting positions for  _ Boombayah _ , and from that moment, Jennie’s more than certain that Jisoo’s cemented the first and most special part of her heart.

Jennie doesn’t think she could give it to anyone else but her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did i say 8 chapters???? i meant 10 or so depending on how lengthy i end up writing the future chapters kjhdkljs


	6. V.I

-V.I-

The moment Blackpink finally gets a break that lasts more than just a day is when Jisoo happily invites Jennie on a trip to Jeju with her family. She quite literally jumps at Jennie to ask as soon as they get home after a day of hectic schedules.

Jennie is quick to accept, with her heart pounding because of both the shock and Jisoo’s face just mere inches from hers as the older of the two straddles her lap like it's nothing, but she can't deny how her stomach turns at the thought.

It's not that Jennie doesn't like Jisoo's family— she loves them like her own— and they adore her too. It's just, ever since she's realized that her feelings towards her best friend turn out to be a lot more than just platonic love she can’t help but feel nervous.

For what? She’s not exactly sure herself.

It’s not like Jisoo would return those feelings, anyway.

She sighs as she spots Jisoo zooming over to ask both Chaeyoung and Lisa to join in, but it seems they already have plans as Lisa loudly explains that she's already invited Chaeyoung to meet her family in Thailand and sends winks and finger guns at Jennie. Jennie rolls her eyes playfully, knowing that Lisa introducing her girlfriend (She honestly doesn't know when it happened, she just caught them in one of their make out sessions with Rosie looking like she wanted to disappear as soon as Jennie cleared her throat) to her family is a leap of both faith and courage since the couple isn't exactly out yet, and only Jennie knows of their true relationship status.

Meanwhile Jisoo pretends to be mad at first, knowing Lisa's dad is a chef and she goes on and on with, ' _ why didn't you invite me too?! aren't I the number one food critique in this household?! Why isn't Jennie invited either, she's our chef and you're useless at cooking!' _ until she breaks character laughing, telling them to at least get some souvenirs.

  
  


* * *

Besides the endless waves of the sea and the never-ending golden sand of Jeju Island, Jisoo’s family just won’t stop eating as well. It seems that every other time is snack time for them, and even until today Jennie doesn’t understand how they could eat so much right before swimming… and in general, really. She even spots Jisoo’s older brother with an ice cream cone as he settles down on one of the many beach beds.

“Jendeukie, are you okay?” Jisoo asks, noticing Jennie’s sluggish movements as they approach the shallow waters. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jennie tries to placate her best friend’s worries, “It’s just… I’m really full, that’s all,” She says as the pair wade deeper into the water.

“Full?” Jisoo pouts, “Jendeukie-ah, you barely ate! Maybe you’re still hungry?” Her best friend tries to suggest as she holds on to Jennie’s hand underwater.

The younger girl manages not to jolt at the sudden touch, “No, I’m sure I’m full,” Jennie replies, “Even Jiyoon unnie tried to feed me more kimbap earlier, like your eomma didn’t just give me a whole platter of it when we were eating lunch,” She comments, and Jisoo can’t help but chuckle.

“Why is food always your family’s solution to everything?” Jennie asks fondly, finding the courage to squeeze their joint hands. Jisoo guides them deeper into the water, pulling Jennie close.

“Have you seen anyone get mad or sad while eating good food?” Jisoo asks. Jennie thinks on it briefly but decides to respond with a shake of her head.

“See? Food makes everything better, and offering you more means we care,” Jisoo says softly, and it makes Jennie’s heart feel fuller than her stomach will ever be.

“Anyways, I saw a bingsu stand not so far from here,” JIsoo suddenly blurts out and it makes Jennie giggle. Of course she would think of eating again, “Can we get some later?”

“Sure, but we have to share one. I just told you I’m still full, Jichu-yah,” Jennie says and that immediately causes her best friend to pout.

“But I wanted to try two flavors…" Jisoo says longingly.

"Then order two for yourself, dummy," Jennie says and laughs as Jisoo tries to stomp petulantly underwater.

She laughs harder when Jisoo's head suddenly disappears and then reappears from view because she's too short to stomp on the seabed below them.

When they eventually come back to the shore, it seems that Jisoo's eomma thought of the same thing as she presents everyone with six different flavors of bingsu from the same stall Jisoo pointed out earlier to Jennie. Everyone in Jisoo's family sports a wide grin as Jisoo ushers her best friend to pick which flavor she wants first, and Jennie can't find it in her heart to say no.

* * *

Later that day, the two decide to split up to buy souvenirs for their friends and family. Jennie insisted that they do, because she secretly wanted to get something special for Jisoo, even if that did end up with Jisoo calling her just to complain about how hard it is to shop without her.

Right now, Jennie's in the middle of picking a new ring for Jisoo and herself. Sure they already have their old friendship ring from their trainee days  _ and _ their matching debut rings (Jennie discovered that Jisoo did give debut rings to both Lisa and Chaeyoung first and wanted to save her for last, and Jennie doesn't know how to feel about that), but Jennie wants this to be even more special. Different from the rest. 

She definitely doesn't want to give her an engagement ring… that would be too much, Jennie thinks as she's presented with a few engagement rings by the seller who doesn't recognize her. She skims through the more luxurious selection of jewelry, but Jennie wants to give something that will let Jisoo know how important she is to her.

Not that she doesn't know of course, but Jennie thinks that she should probably stop chickening out from letting Jisoo know her feelings once and for all.

It's not like Jisoo would suddenly leave her, right?

Their friendship is stronger than that, Jennie knows, but she can't help but feel afraid. Jisoo has never expressed interest in anyone… or at least she's never told Jennie about it, but why wouldn't she? 

They always tell each other everything, after all. That didn't stop even when Jennie was in New Zealand all those years ago.

The only one who's been hiding is herself.

* * *

It takes her a while to choose a ring, but she decides on simple, matching gold rings that look to be tied like an elegant knot. Promise rings, the jeweler tells her, and Jennie's reminded of the day Jisoo handed her a piece of red yarn and called it their friendship ring.

Jennie thinks it's perfect.

With her gift ready and confession written and tucked away in her pocket, Jennie invites Jisoo to a late night stroll in the beach. It's as cliche as it gets, but Jennie will take it. She won't have many opportunities to be alone with Jisoo once their schedules pick up again, after all.

She has to try. She can't chicken out now.


	7. V.II

-V.II-

Jennie stares at herself in the mirror, dressed quite casually but still fashionably since she doesn't want to mess this up looking bad. She'd rather not mess up, period, but she knows not everything in life just pieces itself together perfectly. Life doesn't work that way. It never really does.

Just as she's about to leave her room, her phone rings with a call from Chaeyoung.

“Hello?” Jennie answers the call, slowly pacing around her room, “Rosie, is everything okay there?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me,” She says dismissively, making Jennie feel even more concerned, “I actually called because I’m worried about you, unnie.”

Jennie sighs at that. Ever since she’d accidentally spilled the beans to Rosé during one of their practice sessions, she’s been bugging her a lot more about her feelings for Jisoo. But Jennie can understand where she’s coming from, she pestered Rosie the same way when she told Jennie about her not-so-little crush on Lisa.

Look where that got them now. Happily together, and in Thailand to have a good time with Lisa’s family. Hopefully.

If everything goes okay.

“Are you sure you both are okay?” Jennie persists, ignoring Rosé’s concern for her to put her dongsaeng first, “You don’t have to pretend just because we’re on vacation, you know. Jisoo and I are here for you both,” Jennie continues.

“Don’t worry, unnie,” Rosé answers, and Jennie can practically hear the smile in her voice and sighs in relief, “Lisa told her parents about us, and they’re shocked, understandably, but they’re more than just fine with it! You don’t know how relieved I feel, unnie…” Rosé breathes out dreamily, like all of her wishes have just come true.

Jennie couldn’t be any happier for Rosé when she eagerly listens to her stories about how Lisa’s parents took everything in earlier today. Chaeyoung might’ve probably gone on and on until night turns into day, but Jennie spots the time on the wall clock as they’re conversing.

“Rosie, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have to go. I have plans with Jisoo tonight,” Jennie says apologetically, and Rosé suddenly squeals.

“Ooh! Is it a date?” Rosé asks immediately and Jennie can already imagine the bright grin on her face. Jennie’s brief silence sends the loud vocalist to scream, “It’s definitely a date, isn’t it?!”

“It’s not,” Jennie answers curtly, cutting through Chaeyoung's screaming as she hears the younger girl swiftly call for Lisa. It doesn’t take long until both of them are listening in, the phone on speaker and shared between the couple.

“Look you guys, it really isn’t a date,” Jennie emphasizes again, “But I do plan to confess to her tonight… I really have to go now though, I— I’ll tell you both all about it later,” She explains as she locks the door to her hotel room.

“Oh, what do you have planned?” Lisa asks eagerly, “Keep us with you, unnie!” She can hear the maknae clapping her hands together.

“Well the beach looks beautiful at night… and I have a ring,” Jennie mutters, heat already rising to her cheeks as she pushes the elevator button with a bit too much force, “But I am  _ not _ keeping you both on call. What if everything goes wrong?”

Both Chaeyoung and Lisa scream even louder when they hear the word ring and Jennie regrets mentioning that little detail. Huffing, the rapper reaches right above her chest, where her own ring and Jisoo’s rest together around an elegant chain.

“Unnie, don’t think like that!” Chaeyoung exclaims encouragingly, “What if everything goes right?”   
  
“Yeah!” Lisa pipes up, “What’s the worst that could happen, anyway? Jisoo unnie is your best friend!”

“But what if things change? I’ve told you both this already; I can’t risk our dynamic… The whole group would be a mess,” Jennie voices out the fears that's been constantly eating at her mind.

The pair on the other end understand her completely, having been in the same situation before. What she’s saying isn’t new information, really, Jennie thinks as the elevator dings and slowly opens. 

The older girl can’t help but think how Lisa and Chaeyoung’s relationship hasn’t ruined the group’s dynamic at all… Although Jisoo has yet to discover the maknae’s relationship status yet. Jennie isn’t particularly worried about that, however.

“Despite all of that unnie,” Rosé says in a calm tone, cutting through Jennie’s barrage of thoughts. It’s a contrast to how loud she was just moments ago, “You’re there now, getting ready to confess to Jisoo unnie. You have everything set up even without our help, just take the leap,” She says, and Jennie closes her eyes, nodding.

“Okay,” Jennie whispers into the receiver, “Okay. Wish me luck.”

“You can do it, unnie! Go get your girl!” Lisa encourages her one last time before ending the call. Jennie steps out of the elevator and stands by the hotel’s main entrance.

Jennie takes one last breath to steel herself, stepping out of the large building. She fixes her cardigan and immediately spots Jisoo. Her best friend is already waiting for her and is holding what looks to be a picnic basket in her hands.

“Night picnic?” Jisoo asks, grinning with her head adorably tilted. She raises the basket and shakes it a bit. The gleam in her best friend’s eyes could rival the stars.

She cares about her too; she always has and she always will.

A bright smile decorates Jennie’s features and all of her fears seem to disappear.

* * *

“I asked for a stroll, but you brought a whole picnic?” Jennie quips the moment they start walking side by side, admiring the calm, rolling waves of the sea. Jennie hears the soft rustling of the basket’s contents, hoping that Jisoo didn’t actually bring a whole buffet in there.

“Knowing the both of us, we’ll get tired halfway through walking,” Jisoo shrugs, “Sitting down on sand sucks unless you want a sandy butt, so I was just supposed to bring a blanket… And then I saw the snacks you didn’t eat from earlier, so here we are,” Her best friend says as she lifts the basket between them. Jennie can’t help but let out a giggle at her best friend’s thoughtfulness.

“You do have a point,” Jennie grins, nudging Jisoo’s shoulder with her own, “Sandy butts do suck.”   
  
“See? I’m a genius!” Jisoo puffs her chest out proudly, making the both of them laugh. The ends of their laughter slowly fade into the silent night as they walk comfortably in silence.

The serene beach Jennie invited Jisoo to is practically empty. Jennie knows that the night is young and the other beaches around the island have just begun partying, but she likes it this way. Just the two of them together, enjoying something healing and calm. A contrast to the loud and energetic concerts they perform in. They pad closer to the shore peacefully, the water gently tickling their feet every now and then.

Jennie sighs, feeling content. She could stay in this moment, on this beach with Jisoo forever.

Jennie slows down her pace and watches as Jisoo excitedly creates footprint after footprint on the drier parts of the sand. Jisoo’s dark hair flows smoothly down her back as she does so despite the movement, and her smile is endearingly carefree. The younger girl gently holds onto the rings resting on her chest as she admires her best friend.

“Jendeukie!” Jisoo calls happily, her eyes turning into happy crescents could rival the moon itself, “Look! That cove over there is the perfect spot!”

Jennie lets go of the rings and smiles back as she tries to stop herself from combusting, “It’ll be our little hideout then, let’s go!” She says with the same enthusiasm— still admittedly dazed from admiring Jisoo— as they get closer to the little cove.

It doesn’t take too long for them to settle down onto the blanket Jisoo lays out for the both of them. Like Jisoo’s prediction, the both of them relax instantly and begin to devour the snacks Jisoo packed. They talk about anything and everything as they (Jisoo) eat. Jennie enjoys her best friend’s company so much, she doesn’t realize how late it is until they find themselves watching the crescent moon slowly sink into the ocean.

Jisoo’s head is fully rested on Jennie’s lap as they watch the large moon in front of them. There’s still some crumbs on Jisoo’s face, and Jennie doesn’t hesitate to gently brush them away from her lips.

“Mmph,” Jisoo grunts, “What was that for?” She mumbles sleepily.

“There were still some crumbs on your face, dummy,” Jennie says softly. Jisoo grunts again and shifts to rest more comfortably on her best friends lap. She sighs happily when she finds the most comfortable position. Jennie moves her hand to stroke through Jisoo’s hair.

“You know, I got you a gift,” Jennie starts, “But I don’t want it to be like the others…”

“What do you mean?” Jisoo asks, but doesn’t move away from her position. She patiently waits for Jennie to continue.

“I- I want you to treat this as something… special,” Jennie stutters and swallows, moving to unclasp the chain of her necklace to get their rings out.

“If it’s coming from you, then it’s already special, Jendeuk,” Jisoo says cheesily, throwing finger guns from her position on Jennie’s lap as she chuckles. The latter smiles at that, but gently nudges for Jisoo to get up.

When they’re both seated face to face with each other, Jennie slowly takes Jisoo’s hand and hands her the ring. Jennie tries to hide how much she’s shaking. She doesn’t think she can.

“You’re such a sap, Jendeukie,” Jisoo comments but takes the ring gently from her shaking hands, admiring the golden band as she slips it on her finger, beside their debut ring. Jisoo’s ring finger remains empty.

“You can’t say that while you’re trying not to cry, unnie,” Jennie says, but her voice is already all choked up. 

Jisoo’s about to pull her in for a hug, until Jennie raises her hand to stop her.

“I love you, Jisoo unnie,” She confesses under the glow of the moonlight. She doesn’t find the courage to elaborate.

“I love you too, Mandu-yah,” Jisoo says softly, and Jennie feels the world stop. 

“You’re my best friend,” Jisoo continues and pulls her in for a tight hug.

Jennie can’t find it in herself to ruin such a moment. Instead she treasures Jisoo’s words, keeping Jisoo’s first  _ I love you _ ever since they’ve known each other, into her heart. Her best friend isn’t one to express her affection too often, after all. Jisoo prefers to express her love with gifts and actions instead.

The two continue to admire the incomplete moon as it sinks, and this time it’s Jennie who rests on Jisoo’s lap. It’s absolutely breathtaking, but Jennie can’t bring herself to appreciate it as much as she should be.

When the full moon finally disappears into the ocean, erasing the sky of its light, Jennie decides that she should move on.

Sometimes, things are better admired from afar after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year! :)


	8. VI

-VI-

“Mmmh,” Jisoo groans when she feels arms tightening around her torso, adjusting to accommodate her not-so-little jetpack as she sleeps. Even in her barely conscious state Jisoo knows that only one person could be this clingy with her. Her Jendeukie.

“Do you think…?” Jisoo can hear some hushed whispers, but chooses to ignore it by snuggling deeper into her soft pillow. Her movement remains limited when her best friend pulls her in, her back now practically attached to Jennie’s front.   
  


“Yeah, but they told us…” Jisoo can hear Jennie grunting in frustration at the noise being made, pulling the eldest even closer to herself.

“You know what…” 

“SHUT UP!” Jennie snaps, shocking Jisoo out of her half-conscious state. The eldest nearly falls clean out of the bed until someone suddenly grabs her by the hips to yank her out of the bed completely.

“Yaaaah,” Jisoo complains weakly as she’s dragged away from Jennie and lifted by long, lean arms. When the eldest cracks open her sleepy eyes, she meets the maknae’s mischievous gaze.

“We’re filming unnie, get up!” Lisa whispers quite loudly so Jisoo decides to scream louder to cover Lisa’s voice and to entertain the audience who’ll witness Kim Jisoo in her natural habitat: the bed.

Jisoo finally comes to, and remembers that their management had decided for Blackpink to star in their own reality show. The suggestion was made by Jennie and Chaeyoung to the management a few comebacks ago, and now here they are. The bed had been so comfy, and they let them sleep for so long that it completely slipped Jisoo’s mind.

It seems to have slipped her best friend’s too.

Taking a quick look at Jennie from her position now on Lisa’s back, she can see that Jennie looks especially grouchy today despite it being one of the few times they’ve actually gotten a full eight hours (more than, if Jisoo’s being honest) of sleep. Then again, Lisa did just barge in to disturb their sleep.

Jisoo doesn’t notice, but Jennie sends daggers towards Lisa as soon as the maknae’s dropped Jisoo to plop down on a chair in the kitchen. As soon as the eldest rights herself on the seat, Rosé happily hands Jisoo a plate of surprisingly not burnt toast with fruits forming a cute smiley face on the bread. Chaeyoung seems proud to show off her mastery at toasting bread while Jennie continues to grumble behind them.

After a rather heavy breakfast, the production team tells them that they’re to be split into two groups for today’s activities to maximize the time and places they can visit. It’s almost automatic how Jisoo raises her hand up and calls dibs to partner up with Jennie. 

The eldest sees both Rosé and Lisa snicker, making bets with each other before they even begin filming again. Jisoo already knows that their outing will be chaotic. Not that it’s a problem, it’s just Jisoo just doesn’t feel especially energetic today to join in on their antics. Sometimes she feels like the two maknaes go into their own little world, and Jisoo can’t help but feel like a third wheel. But that’s okay, Jisoo knows some really do just click more than others.

Luckily she and Jennie are much calmer than the rowdy maknaes.

Jisoo takes a glance at her best friend, and wonders why she’s been blooming lately. Her cheeks have been so rosy as well. Not that it's a bad thing. The color just goes so well on her.

Jisoo can’t help but stare.

* * *

Here lies the problem: Jennie can't move on.

It’s been a few months since her failed confession at the beach. She doesn’t exactly regret not telling Jisoo how she really feels— their little moment on the beach was more than enough— but she can’t help think about how everything would be if she did. Would their friendship end? Would Jisoo pretend to be friends with her on camera, then be cold once their filming ends? Or would they remain the best of friends… or something more? 

Jennie doesn’t know. 

She’d rather not know, honestly. Lisa and Chaeyoung may have just been a _ little _ disappointed (they were  _ very _ disappointed) at her cowardice, but there’s just too big of a risk now. They’re at the peak of their career, Jennie thinks, she can’t ruin that now. She can’t ruin their dream.

Perhaps when everything is over and done with, Jennie might confess to her best friend… If Jisoo doesn’t get herself a partner by then, or something. Her best friend never seemed to care about romance or having a partner to share your life with, but the future could change her point of view.

(Jennie suddenly remembers Jisoo telling her that she doesn’t need anyone else when she has her Jendeukie to make her happy, and she wills the thought away before she overthinks those words again.) 

“Where are we going, Jendeukie?” Jisoo asks as she grins at the camera as they now sit side by side in the van, pulling Jennie out of her reverie. 

Shaking her head, Jennie moves her head off of Jisoo’s shoulder, “What do you mean?”

“You chose the location for this one, remember?” Her best friend chuckles, gently ruffling her hair so it doesn’t get too messy in front of the cameras, “Earth to Jennie, are you really awake yet?”

“Oh.” 

_ Oh. _ In the midst of Jennie’s overthinking she overlooked one tiny detail when she told the production team that she liked making things as a hobby. Good thing the staff suggested making bracelets first before she blurted out that she wanted to make rings with Jisoo.

“We’re making bracelets,” Jennie says, yawning into her hand to feign sleepiness. 

“We’re making another thing I see,” Jisoo hums and quickly cracks a grin, “Lisa and Rosé would have suggested to buy bracelets instead if they came with us,” She chuckles. 

“Wouldn’t you suggest that too?” Jennie asks with a raised brow, “You’re bad at making things too,” The younger nudges her best friend jokingly, briefly reminiscing about the phone cases they decorated in the past, and their failed attempts at making slime together. Jennie can see the staff resting in the front seats of the van smile at their banter.

“Nah,” Jisoo waves off Jennie’s suggestion, “It’s fun to make things with you, even when I fail,” She says casually, and Jennie’s heart grows even fonder of her best friend.

_ Why is she like this? _

“But if your bracelet fails, at least you can put it beside mine so it won’t look as bad!” Jisoo says loudly, giving a double thumbs up right at the camera.

“Yah!” Jennie swiftly swats at her best friend’s arm while Jisoo and the rest of the crew laugh softly.

_ Why is she like this?! _

* * *

Once they step foot into the homey workshop, they’re welcomed by a kind young woman that Jennie remembers speaking to about the bracelets they’re about to make today. She did bring up making rings with her, but they ultimately settled for making bracelets given how time consuming making rings could be, especially for beginners like them. 

After some small talk about how the young woman speaks Korean surprisingly well despite being a foreigner while the staff set up their cameras, the three of them get to work. Jennie gets the hang of the young woman’s explanations rather quickly as they go.

Meanwhile Jisoo has her lips pursed and eyebrows scrunched, struggling to follow. Just as Jennie’s about to ask if Jisoo needs help, the kind woman quickly swoops in to assist her best friend. Jennie tries to hide her grimace from being caught on camera, moving to cut the chain of her bracelet to pretend that her frowning is because of her crafting instead.

The younger can’t help but feel annoyed with herself when she recognizes her irritation as jealousy over something so small.   
  


* * *

When their bracelets are finally complete, the production staff tell them that they still have quite a lot of time left versus their initial expectations. Jennie’s about to suggest that they could just talk about their pendants on their newly crafted bracelets to extend the episode, when the young woman suddenly adds that the pair can learn how to engrave rings as well, just like what Jennie wanted initially. 

Jisoo quickly takes the offer to do it. The young woman is quick to explain to Jisoo that it’s a lot harder to make versus the bracelets that she was already struggling with earlier. The whole thing leaves Jennie a bit bewildered as to why her best friend seems to be so into it when she realizes that Jisoo’s wide smile is directed right at her.

Of course Jisoo thinks of her first. They’re best friends, after all.

_ Best friends. _

Jennie tries to concentrate on filming the episode instead of her best friend’s smile.

“You wanted to learn how to make rings too, right?” Jisoo asks with a smile that could put angels to shame, “She says we can engrave stuff on it too!”

What choice does Jennie have but to say yes?

* * *

The young woman is quick to explain and demonstrate what to do, keenly aware of the time they have left for this episode despite knowing that their video editors will definitely be cutting a lot of parts anyway. During their brief break, the young woman explains to Jennie that she wanted to let the younger girl have a chance to do her initial idea, which is why she’d prepared all the materials beforehand. Essentially, all they have to do now is to engrave it however they’d like. Now Jennie feels bad that she was feeling jealous of her moments ago, since all she’s been is kind and accommodating to their needs for the shoot.

“Jennie-ssi, If I may be so blunt…” The young woman starts, watching Jennie stare out of the workshops’ window while Jisoo gets a quick retouch in another room, “You should go with what your heart wants,” She continues, startling Jennie out of her thoughts.

Jennie’s quick to face the young woman, “Excuse me?”

“I’m just saying, you look like you already have something in mind,” The young woman shrugs, but Jennie can see her knowing gaze, “For the design of the ring, I mean. You have nothing to lose,” She smiles and Jennie doesn’t know how to feel, realizing how terribly obvious she’s being.

She doesn’t really get the time to process the information either, as they’re called back to start engraving the rings now that the ring metal is heated up.

* * *

Just as Jennie’s beginning to engrave the letters that she wants on her ring, Jisoo plops beside her casually, tilting her head to have a better look at the process.

“What’re you gonna put on your ring?” Jisoo asks, “The Hangul engravings don’t look as cool as the English letters,” She comments while Jennie continues to hammer down on her ring.

“The Hangul is fine, you’re just used to seeing it,” Jennie says as she moves to adjust the hammer on her hand, “But I’m engraving something special on my ring,” The younger looks up and meets Jisoo’s gaze with a cheeky smile.

“Are you gonna tell me what it is?” Jisoo raises a brow and Jennie just shakes her head.

“Do you want to make matching rings?” Jennie asks instead as she stops her work to meet her best friend’s gaze.

“Oh so that ring is gonna be about us?” Jisoo asks with that smile of hers, and Jennie immediately blushes at her best friend’s wording. She suddenly wishes that her best friend’s voice wasn’t so loud all the time.

“Yeah, who else would it be about?” Jennie shoots back, trying to stay confident as she gets back to engraving.

“I dunno,” Jennie doesn’t see her, but she can already tell that Jisoo’s shrugging, “Maybe you have a boyfriend, y’know?”

At that, Jennie brings down her hammer a bit (a lot) too hard, bending the metal instead of engraving it.

“Or a girlfriend?” Jisoo whispers with a grin and wiggling eyebrows. Jennie nearly drops the hammer on her other hand.

“Yah!” Jennie almost swats her best friend with the hammer on her right hand, “What makes you think I’m dating anyone? We have a dating ban, remember?!” She whisper-screams. They can’t be caught talking about these things on camera.

Jennie’s already on the verge of freaking out and telling the staff to stop filming, but Jisoo presses on nonchalantly.

“It doesn’t stop some people though,” Jisoo shrugs and looks down to see Jennie’s work.

  
“Oh, why isn’t it straight?” Jisoo asks as she inspects bent metal, and somehow Jennie feels like it’s directed more at her than it is at the ring.

Trying to turn the conversation to Jisoo, Jennie starts, “How about you then, unnie? Are you dating anyone?” She asks with a raised brow and what she hopes looks like a cheeky grin despite her panic.

Jisoo smiles at the question and grabs the hammer from Jennie’s hands, shooing the younger away from the stool as she takes her place in front of the metal.

“Of course I’m not dating anyone,” The eldest says, repositioning the small sheet of metal and hammering away to fix it, “I don’t need anyone else when you’re here, Jendeukie,” She says with so much certainty as she fixes the ring.

Jennie feels like she’s just died and ascended just then.

Jennie doesn’t notice how pink Jisoo’s cheeks have become, too focused on looking at anyone that isn’t Jisoo.

* * *

“There you go, it’s fixed!” Jisoo grins victoriously, waving around the strip of metal, “I’m good for something after all!” She exclaims, causing everyone around them to laugh.

Jennie tries her best to be her usual self, because she knows that this is usually the part where she hits her best friend on the shoulder, rolling her eyes and laughing with the rest of the staff, but she just can’t. The younger just stares at Jisoo lovingly, with her heart bursting at the seams.

“Jendeukie,” Jisoo nudges her best friend, not noticing her sudden silence, “Engrave JJ4EVA on my ring too!” She says and gets up to switch places with Jennie once more to grab her own materials for her ring.

When Jennie sits down, she suddenly comes back to her senses and realizes something.

“When did you learn how to read that?” Jennie blurts out. They’re simple letters, definitely, but Jennie hoped that Jisoo wouldn’t get it by adding some slang.

“Contrary to popular belief, I study on my own too!” Jisoo chuckles, shaking her head playfully, “You may be teaching me English, but I can still learn on my own, you sap,” Jisoo says and pokes at the younger’s cheek.

“You better not be asking anyone else to teach you English,” Jennie mutters out without thinking, and Jisoo giggles.

“I study on my own!” Jisoo exclaims, You’re the only one for me, Mandu-yah,” She says playfully, shooting finger guns at her best friend.

Jennie can feel the tips of her ears heating up, and a full blush beginning to bloom on her face. Jisoo isn’t supposed to get what the ring means this quickly, not that she gets the actual implications of it, but still! Biting her lip, the younger decides to get back to work to engrave the metal of Jisoo’s ring.

“I like it,” Jisoo says in a much quieter tone when they get back into the groove of working on their rings, “We have a forever to go,” Her best friend mutters as she nods to herself, beaming at Jennie like she didn’t just drop a whole bomb on the younger girl’s poor heart.

They finish their rings just in time for the sun to set just as they’re about to leave, and Jennie’s doomed to love her best friend forever.

  
  
  


(It doesn’t help that her mischievous best friend decides to bring her to a roller skating rink after all of that, where Jennie accidentally asks if this is how people fell in love in the past right as the cameras begin to roll. 

But it’s not like she received a response from Jisoo anyway, who was too busy enjoying her skates until she fell on her butt like a child. Jennie doesn’t realize that her question was the reason Jisoo fell over. Both Chaeyoung and Lisa end up screaming at Jennie when their episodes air.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new chapter ft. no angst for now because jisoo day yay


	9. VII.I

-VII.I-

While Blackpink’s company leaves them with little to no plans for the next few months after concluding their last comeback’s promotions, Jennie decides to make her own plans with some close friends she hasn’t seen in a while. 

As much as Jennie loves her members, sometimes she just needs time to be with people outside of their group. She already sees Lisa, Chaeyoung, and Jisoo everyday given their living situation, so the young woman thinks that a change of pace might help herself to stop (over)think about a certain someone.

“I can’t believe we’re all in the same situation, seriously,” Nayeon huffs as she sips on her iced coffee. 

“Correction, Jennie and I are in the same situation,” Irene quips, “Jeongyeon already rejected you,” She says bluntly.

Nayeon waves her off, “Fine. But it’s not my fault both of you are too chicken to say anything.”

“I tried! Three times!” Irene says rather loudly. The three of them quickly try to act more inconspicuous to draw less attention. Even if they’re tucked into the corner of the cafe, Jennie isn’t so sure that their attempts at being discreet are working. 

“It’s not my fault Seulgi doesn’t seem to get the message every time,” Irene stabs at her red velvet cake frustratedly.

Jennie sighs at that, “I’m the only chicken here since I haven’t tried yet. But why does Jisoo say and do things that just sound… I don’t know,” She slumps in her seat, fidgeting with the engraved ring on her finger, her fingers smoothing over the clumsily engraved  _ JJ4EVA _ .

“She says and does things that sound like she might like you too?” Nayeon suggests, and Jennie nods, shrinking further into her seat.

“Then maybe she does like you, you know?” Nayeon continues and Irene swats her arm.

“That kind of thinking is what got you rejected in the first place,” Irene says defeatedly.

“At least I tried, you know,” Nayeon shrugs, “It still hurts, of course, but I’ll be okay. At least I won’t be longing forever, unlike the both of you,” Nayeon says pointedly at her two friends.

“You have a point,” Jennie agrees, “The faster I get on with it, the faster I can move on if it doesn’t go well, right?”

“Yeah, but you could build up on it?” Nayeon says, “Y’know, like, be a bit more bold. Flirt with her, show that you’re interested in more than just a friendship with her. That you could be more than a best friend.”

“Was that what you were trying to do with Jeongyeon?” Irene raises a skeptical brow, “You both looked like you were fighting more than flirting.” 

“Yeah. I have to agree with her, Nayeonie,” Jennie shrugs and adjusts the oversized scarf around her neck that Jisoo forced onto her before she could even step foot out of their apartment.

“Look unnie, I’m pretty sure there was  _ something _ between us,” Nayeon says and takes a sip from her drink, “I just… I don't know what happened. Jeongyeon didn’t really explain herself, she said something about not wanting to hurt anyone... Maybe the ring was too much?” Nayeon sighs forlornly.

“I don’t think that could have scared her off—” Jennie tries to say.

“Not all best friends give each other cute rings casually,” Nayeon says with a frown, taking a glance at the ring Jennie’s been fidgeting with, “I’ve actually never seen Jisoo allow anyone to even be so clingy and all with her except for you.“

“Don’t say things like that,” Jennie frowns, trying to ignore the blush creeping on her cheeks. When she buries her face deeper into her (Jisoo’s) scarf, she blushes an even fiercer shade of red.

“Look Jennie-yah, from the three of us, you have the biggest chance of getting the girl. Jeong flat out rejected me, and Seulgi-ya is pretending not to see shit for some reason. Your grandma Joohyun and I have practically been rejected.”

“Hey, don’t lump me with you!” Irene huffs indignantly, “Seulgi probably just needs something clearer… ”

“She thought your corny love letter was song lyrics even if they were clearly addressed to her. Yerim already tried to help you even before that, and her lazy ass moving for something that isn’t work is already a miracle in itself. Honestly, I think Seulgi either just wants to let you down easy, or is in denial herself,” Nayeon says rather bluntly. The two vocalists stare each other down and Jennie doesn’t know what to make of it.

“Honestly…” Irene mutters, breaking her staredown with Nayeon. Instead she looks into her cup of tea, contemplating, “Jisoo’s birthday is coming up in two months, right?” Irene suddenly asks, looking at Jennie.

“Yes…” Jennie helps her unnie shift the topic to something a bit lighter, “Why’re you asking?”

“What if you just got her an actual wedding ring for her birthday?” Irene suggests, and Nayeon snickers over a mouthful of bread, “You both have so many rings together… You have like, four now? I don’t think she’ll think much of it.”

Jennie wants to correct her and say that they have exactly six rings since they’ve met, but she doesn’t want to add any more fuel to the fire.

“What’s the point if she won’t get it?” Jennie’s quick to retaliate, “I thought the point was to get me to confess to her,” She frowns.

“Grandma, you’re a genius!” Nayeon cackles and smacks Irene’s shoulder. Irene hits her shoulder back just as hard, causing the former to choke on her coffee. Once Nayeon’s cleared her throat, she continues.

“You and Jisoo have known each other for so long. It might be hard for her to see you in the way you see her now,” Nayeon says as if she holds all the wisdom in the world, “If you tried changing it up a bit, being flirty, making her jealous and all… You could have her by her birthday! The ring would be the killing move!” Nayeon snaps her fingers to end her little  _ Eureka _ moment.

Jennie just stares at Nayeon with a judging gaze, “And how do you think I could ‘change it up’?” 

Nayeon pouts at that and decides to drop a bomb, “What if you went on a date with me?”

“Nayeon—” Both Irene and Jennie are about to yell at her when Nayeon interrupts them.

“Not now!” She says, trying to calm them down, “Later, when you make Jisoo realize what she has. What she can lose, you know? Build up on it.”

“I… don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Irene lets out her honest thoughts, “But it’s a plan, I guess.”

“You know, I can see how Yerim managed to convince you to do all of that shit now,” Nayeon giggles as she steals a strawberry out of Irene’s plate.

“Shut up,” Irene grumbles and pouts.

“But what do you get out of that, unnie?” Jennie asks after taking a long sip of coffee from her own mug.

“I get a little distraction from everything. Twice doesn’t have anything to do for once, and I can’t stand staying in the dorm for too long because Jeongyeon is a homebody herself… And if Jisoo doesn’t share your feelings, at least we can have a little date to congratulate you for being brave. It’s a win-win situation for the both of us.” Nayeon says, looking away.

“That’s… understandable,” Jennie’s unsure as to how to respond to her friend.

“Fine. Let’s do it,” Jennie breathes out, and Nayeon looks genuinely surprised that she’s agreed to her plans.

“Then let’s choose out a ring for Jisoo today,” Irene pipes up, “We’ve got the time for once, and we already know how indecisive you are, Jennie-yah,” She says just as Nayeon asks for the bill.

Before they venture out in their quest to save Jennie’s love life, the three of them bicker over who’ll pay for the food with three credit cards being shoved at the poor server. Their not so concealed faces show up on the news the next day with their fans cooing over pictures of them aggressively trying to foot the bill, appreciating their ‘adorable’ friendship.

Despite all of the fuss, Jennie is thankful for the comfort and change of pace her friends provide.

* * *

Jennie and Nayeon never truly get around to planning out their  _ date  _ date, but Jennie finds herself hanging out with the older woman more often. Sure they've been friends before all of this, but her presence has become a lot more comforting to Jennie. For a homebody, Jennie's found herself wanting going out to meet Nayeon more and more despite the hassle of having to dress up inconspicuously because of her fame.

Jennie thinks that being with Nayeon is nice. It’s a nice change of pace, for once.

With the amount of times they've gone out, it doesn't take long for Jennie to discover that Jeongyeon has been avoiding Nayeon like the plague after rejecting her, and that their best friend, Jihyo, is trying to fix things between them. It's the first time their trio's been torn like this, and Nayeon feels like it's all her fault. Jennie's quick to assure her that it isn't. Not entirely, at least. Jennie doesn't understand why Jeongyeon would avoid her like that.

Nayeon's exact situation is what Jennie fears the most. But the older woman tells her that whatever Jeongyeon's going through will pass. She tells Jennie that Jeongyeon isn't confrontational and needs time to process things alone before speaking up. Jennie doesn't want to doubt Nayeon, but it's been weeks and even she herself can feel the awkward energy in their dorms when she drops Nayeon off.

Because of that Jennie can't help but step back and have second thoughts despite Nayeon's encouragement.

She doesn't want to lose her best friend.

* * *

When Jisoo’s birthday draws near, Jennie is a nervous ball of energy. She’s managed to hide the ring box out of Jisoo’s sight easily despite buying it months ago since the older woman wasn’t one to snoop around. She’s always respecting her privacy despite all the things they share with each other. Besides that Jennie has tried being a bit more affectionate and flirty with Jisoo— like what her friends advised— but she doesn’t think it’s been very effective, if she’s being honest. 

Sometimes, it feels like Jisoo’s slowly drifting away from her and she doesn’t know why.

But that doesn’t really matter right now as Jennie’s now cuddled closely beside Jisoo, completely content to have her best friend in her arms. The four of them go on a movie marathon to wait for Jisoo’s birthday at midnight. As much as the other three would’ve wanted to go out to celebrate, Jisoo’s always been the biggest homebody out of all of them. Jennie finds it odd that Jisoo didn’t bother shifting away to dig further into the blankets or change positions to get more space for herself like she used to, but she chalks it up to Jisoo being completely engrossed with the movie.

Beside the large couch lies Lisa’s gift for Jisoo, a large box that stands at about Jisoo’s height. It’s a bit concerning, with how the poorly wrapped box teeters every now and then. Lisa insisted that she didn’t want any help from anyone while she was wrapping it. Rosé’s gift isn’t too far away, supporting Lisa’s unstable block of a gift, but Jennie wonders why it looks oddly like a cooking pot despite it being wrapped. Jennie’s gift box looks devastatingly plain (but much better wrapped) beside the two strange items, but that’s okay. Her actual gift lies heavily in her pocket.

Shaking her head at her thoughts, she snuggles closer to Jisoo and clutches the ring box in her hoodie’s pocket. Jisoo hums and grabs Jennie’s free hand, entwining their fingers. While Chaeyoung and Lisa may be the couple of the group, they’re never as clingy as Jennie and Jisoo.

As the movie goes on, Jennie’s gaze shifts from the animated characters on screen (Jisoo let Chaeyoung and Lisa choose the movie despite it being her birthday) to the wall clock above the large screen. Five minutes left, and Jisoo will open her rather strange set of gifts. Jennie remembers telling them that it’s always been her family’s tradition to open birthday gifts on the eve of their birthday, to make the gifts feel more special— just like Christmas.

Five minutes, and Jennie will have to face her fears yet again to hand Jisoo another ring. This time, she doesn’t plan to confess at all, especially not with both Lisa and Rosé in one room. She just hopes the ring would send the message across... somehow. If not, Jennie hopes that Jisoo enjoys her second gift.

* * *

“Happy Birthday Jisoo!” Jennie, Lisa and Chaeyoung yell happily as they pull Jisoo away from the ongoing movie. The wall clock that Jennie’s been watching intently reads 12:00, barely being illuminated by the quarter moon’s light.

“Wait, we were getting to the good part!” The eldest whines, making grabby hands at Jennie. Despite the movie choice not being her genre, she’s gotten completely hooked. Jennie tries to not short circuit when she moves away from Jisoo, causing the eldest to whine louder.

“I told you I had a good choice in movies! It’s Lisa that’s the problem here!” Rosé exclaims proudly, hopping up to block the screen.

“Okay, rude,” Lisa says with a pout. Chaeyoung is quick to pull Lisa into her arms for a quick peck. The maknae’s pout suddenly turns into a happy grin at the action. Jennie rolls her eyes and pretends to be disgusted as the couple block the TV screen.

“Hey!” Jisoo whines louder, trying to shoo the younger women away from the screen.

“Open your gifts first, unnie!” Lisa shouts as she’s already dragging her large gift towards her unnie.

“Why did you have to get something so huge, Lisa-ya! Gifts like these are so hard to open,” Jisoo complains, but her smile grows as the gift approaches her. Jennie moves to pause the movie, knowing Jisoo would want to watch it until the end.

“Open it!” Lisa hops excitedly as Jisoo stands on the couch to get the wrapping paper out of the box. It doesn’t take long for the eldest to be practically wrestling with the rest of the box to get whatever it is out as Lisa records the whole thing on her phone. Jennie moves off the couch to get the box for her second gift.

Lisa’s gift happens to be a large weighted blanket loosely wrapped around a life size standee of… Jennie. 

Jisoo is completely silent for the first minute, holding the weighted blanket in her hands as she stares at the standee with an unreadable expression. 

Jennie briefly thinks that her best friend should have math equations going all around her face like the meme Jisoo happily showed her before. She honestly doesn’t know what to think of it, but Lisa is cackling while Chaeyoung is hitting the maknae’s shoulder as they both try (and fail) to stifle their laughter.

“Yah! Why would you give me a standee of Jendeukie when she’s always here with me, Lisa?” Jisoo finally finishes computing, and turns around to ask Lisa who’s still laughing.

“Because you get all grumpy whenever Jennie unnie’s out! This will keep you from getting mad at anything!” Lisa chuckles, “The blanket is when she isn’t there to cuddle you, uwu,” Lisa continues with some aegyo, and everyone in the room cringes. Not even Chaeyoung could hide her cringe as she simply moves past Lisa to grab her gift for Jisoo.

“Uwu?” Jisoo says with the most scandalized face any of them has seen. Jennie briefly wonders why her face is as red as a tomato.

“Get out of this house, you’re disowned,” The eldest says and points to the door.

“Was that not cute enough?” Lisa pouts and both Jennie and Jisoo recoil in disgust, “I was actually thinking of getting you a body pillow with Jennie on it, but I think Jennie unnie would’ve suffocated me with it before it even gets to you,” The maknae says, snickering.

“What makes you think I won’t smack you with the whole standee right now, Manoban?” Jennie challenges, sizing up the taller woman in mock annoyance as the pair suddenly square up.

“Fight later, you two!” Chaeyoung yells as she forcibly pushes them apart with her gift, sending Lisa falling into the couch as the former pushes the pot-shaped gift into Jisoo’s hands, “Jisoo unnie, open mine next!”

“Somehow, I think I know what this is,” Jisoo chuckles as she holds the handles of the wrapped present. The eldest settles on the couch, with Lisa and Chaeyoung on both sides. Opening the gift quickly, Jisoo's met with a stainless steel steamer pot.

She looks at Rosé blankly, “You know I can’t cook, right?”

“Yeah, but you wanted to learn how to make dumplings before!” Chaeyoung clasps her hands enthusiastically. Jennie thinks that Rosé might just be a disney princess with how natural the movement is, “So you can make some for Jennie unnie!”

“Excuse me, what—” Jisoo tries to interrupt Chaeyoung, but the vocalist is much too loud.

“You told me you wanted to make dumplings because they look like Jennie’s cheeks!” Chaeyoung giggles happily, sending an exaggerated wink over Jisoo’s shoulder right at Jennie. Jisoo doesn’t see it, but Lisa sends finger guns at Jennie too.

She tries to remain unaffected, but it doesn’t last long when Chaeyoung happily sets the pot on the coffee table, settling beside Jisoo.

“Now you can make dumplings to keep Jennie’s as fluffy as them! Like you said!” Rosé says like an overenthusiastic puppy, and Jisoo can’t help but nod defeatedly.

“Y’know, it feels a lot more like Jennie’s birthday today,” Jisoo chuckles as she gestures towards their Jennie-themed gifts with pink cheeks, 

“Thanks, Chaeyoungie,” Jisoo says and pats Chaeyoung's head fondly. Lisa whines loudly when she doesn’t receive the same treatment. Rolling her eyes, Jisoo ushers her over so she can pat Lisa’s head in thanks.

Jennie bites her lip. She can’t tell whether Chaeyoung and Lisa’s gifts for Jisoo are related to her just to indirectly tease her, or if it’s because Jisoo just talks about her that often. Watching the three, Jennie sees Jisoo remove the lid off of the pot with encouragement from the two women.

Whatever’s inside causes Jisoo to jump in her seat and immediately place both of the maknaes flanking her on the couch in a headlock.

“Yah! I’m disowning the both of you!” Jisoo yells and Jennie can’t help but laugh even though she can’t completely understand what’s going on.

Moving closer to the three with her gift box, Jennie raises an inquisitive brow, “What’s inside, unnie?” She asks and tries to look into the contents of the pot.

For some reason or another, Jisoo flinches at the question and quickly closes the lid. The eldest hastily tosses the pot away, making sure the lid stays on. The pot falls to the ground with a loud clang that makes everyone wince.

“Nothing important!” Her best friend says much too loudly, “Chaeyoungie put in ingredients for the dumplings with fake cockroaches in it,” Jisoo pouts cutely, and whatever questions Jennie might’ve had in mind flies away at the sight of heart-shaped lips.

Silence washes over them as Jennie stares at Jisoo’s lips and the maknaes’ laughing has tapered off. Jennie doesn’t notice how Rosé and Lisa shuffle silently towards Lisa’s room. The pair pick up the discarded gift wrap with them as they go, leaving Jisoo and Jennie alone.

“Is that for me?” Jisoo asks eagerly, and Jennie blinks to bring herself back to the present.

“Yeah. Happy Birthday, Jichu-yah,” Jennie says softly, handing Jisoo the present. She then moves to sit beside her best friend.

Jisoo unwraps the gift much more slowly than she did with the others, and is met with an elegant photo album.

“I know photography and all are more of Lisa’s thing,” Jennie begins, “But I know you two have been messing around with cameras lately... I thought it’d be nice to be able to put them altogether, because I know that deep down, you’re a sap too,” Jennie fiddles with the ring box inside of her hoodie as she explains herself.

When she looks up to meet Jisoo’s gaze, she’s met with the most beautiful smile she’s ever seen.

“Thank you, Jendeukie,” She says simply, clutching onto the photo album. Jennie can feel the sincerity of her words.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Jennie says, “I added a picture of us on the first page to start it off.”

Jisoo’s smile widens when she opens the album and sees a photo of the both of a timid four year old Jennie, and a brave five-and-a-half year old Jisoo. Jennie can’t help but smile too at the nostalgic sight.

“This is gonna be full before the year ends, Jendeukie,” Jisoo mutters softly, still looking at the picture, “We have so many photos together. Chaeyoung-ah and Lisa-yah have double that amount too. I just need to steal some from them,” Jisoo chuckles. 

“Hold on, I still have another gift for you, unnie,” Jennie pipes up when Jisoo closes the photo album. Fiddling with the ring box still in her hoodie’s pocket, Jennie takes a deep breath.

“You really didn’t have to…” Jisoo says as she watches Jennie with a warm gaze.

“I hope you like it,” Jennie says and presents the ring to Jisoo, opening up the ring box in her direction. If she bent down on one knee, it would look like a proposal, the younger woman thinks.

Jisoo’s jaw drops at the sight of the expensive ring, “Jennie, I…”

“I wanted to. You deserve everything, Jisoo. Happy Birthday,” Jennie says softly, with as much courage as she can muster. Jennie pulls the ring out of its confinement, and slides it into Jisoo’s ring finger with her heart pounding noisily in her ears.

When Jennie’s about to let go of Jisoo’s hand, she’s suddenly yanked into a tight embrace. Jisoo hugs her tightly, with no regard for personal space or Jennie’s poor heart as the younger woman practically sits on Jisoo’s lap with how tight her best friend’s hold is.

“I lo— I want you to wear that instead of our promise ring from now on,” Jennie blurts out in her panic after almost saying her true feelings, “You can even remove the _ JJ4EVA _ one too, since I didn’t engrave it that well,” Her single brain cell adds more fuel to the fire. 

“What?” Jisoo extends her arms to meet Jennie's gaze, “I can just wear all our rings, you know… If you want,” Jisoo jokes, smiling at her best friend.

“Unnie, I know you only wear rings on one hand because you don’t like how it feels on your left,” Jennie mutters, her body going on autopilot, “It’ll be simpler to just wear that one alone. But keep it on that finger, okay? You’re mine.”

There’s a pregnant pause before Jisoo speaks up again.

“A-Anything for you, Jendeukie,” Jisoo smiles gently, and suddenly kisses Jennie’s forehead. Jennie has no time to process the sudden affection at all. Jisoo’s heart-shaped lips leave as quickly as they came, but the younger woman is reeling from the contact.

“Thank you, for everything,” Jisoo says sincerely.

Jennie feels like she’s going to pass out.

She doesn’t realize that she already has until she wakes up snuggled beside Jisoo in her room. Jisoo’s new weighted blanket is warm against her skin as the morning light shines gently through the windowsill.

When she slowly opens her eyes, she's met with Jisoo's beautiful bare sleeping face. Just when she's about to wake her best friend and ask how she got here, she feels something loom over the both of them. With a shiver running down her spine, she raises her head. She's met with the sight of her own face standing over the both of them.

"YAAAAAH!" Jennie screams, nearly kicking Jisoo until the older woman wakes up immediately, engulfing her in a tight embrace, pinning Jennie down the bed.

"I'm here. What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Jisoo’s quick to ask and check on her best friend, looking into her eyes.

Jennie clutches Jisoo's arms, panting heavily until she realizes what she just saw.

"Why is your standee of me right beside us?!" Jennie yells and both of Jisoo's brows go up as she moves to check her side.

"Oh," Jisoo mutters glancing at the standee placed right by their bedside, "I swear that wasn't me," She says as she adjusts the standee to face away from them.

"Good morning unnies!" Lisa greets, slamming the door way open with a flourish, "Do you like what I did to your room?"

"Goodbye, Lisa-yah," Is what Jisoo manages to mutter before Jennie leaps off of the bed to chase the maknae down.

"I will kill you!" Jennie yells, charging at one quickly retreating Lalisa Manoban.

"I just wanted a good morning!" Lisa screams, fearing for her life.

* * *

Jennie receives a handful of texts after breakfast, and rushes to leave the dorm.

It's the first time that Jennie misses out on Jisoo blowing out the candles on her cake. Even when she was in New Zealand, she's never missed a single birthday.

Jisoo usually tells Jennie her birthday wish, regardless of what people say.

This year, she doesn't.

* * *

A week passes, and Jennie hasn’t really noticed anything different between herself and Jisoo. Her best friend always wears the ring, but other than that, Jennie’s sure that the message did not get across at all despite it being a wedding rung. She’s pretty sure that Jisoo’s already chalked it up to 'just Jendeukie's clingy things.'

It’s both good and bad that Jennie can read her best friend as easily as Jisoo can read her moods like it’s their own, but Jennie can’t understand why Jisoo can’t seem to pick her signals up at all. Jisoo’s always been quite the perceptive one too. 

Example A: Lisa and Chaeyoung had kept mum about their relationship when they were first starting out. Jennie wouldn’t have known had it not been for her walking in on them as they were making out on the couch. Jisoo found out immediately after their trip to Jeju, asking Chaeyoung how meeting Lisa’s parents as her girlfriend went. Chaeyoung looked just about ready to pass out, but Jisoo always seemed to know what to do next as she tackled both of the maknaes into a tight hug, wishing for their happiness together.

Either way, she brought this upon herself for never saying anything. Things are better like this, Jennie thinks.

“A penny for your thoughts, Jendeukie-ah?” Jisoo asks, joining Jennie under the large weighted blanket she’s settled herself in. It’s automatic, how the both of them adjust to cuddling with Jisoo as the big spoon to Jennie’s little spoon.

“I just,” Jennie starts, throwing caution to the wind, “You’re always on my mind, unnie. I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Oh?” A pause. Jennie feels her heart pounding in her ears as Jisoo tightens her grip on her best friend, “Well if it helps, you’re always in mine too. Sometimes I worry that you’ll die of a heart attack because you’re scared of a lot of things, you know? Remember that variety show where you ended up crying?” Jisoo huffs, and Jennie can feel Jisoo shake her head against her back.

Jennie sighs, this is what she means.

But before she can even say anything, Jisoo’s already changed the conversation.

“Why don’t we have a movie marathon tomorrow night? You've been out a lot and I’ve missed you,” Jisoo says casually. She's never been one to express her feelings like that, and so casually at that, “You choose your favorites and I get to eat all the snacks I want.”   
  


Jennie’s already about to say yes when she remembers that, for better or for worse, she actually has plans that same night. 

“I… actually have plans for tomorrow night,” Jennie mumbles.

“Oh,” Jisoo says, “Why do you sound so nervous?”

“It’s a date, with Nayeon,” Jennie says, squirming in Jisoo’s hold, “Is that okay with you?”

“Why wouldn’t it be okay with me?” Jisoo asks, and Jennie can already tell that her best friend has her brows raised, “Actually, do you mind if I tag along—”

“It’s a  _ date _ date, unnie,” Jennie bites her lip, and Jisoo loosens her hold.

“Oh,” Jisoo detaches herself completely from Jennie as she flops on her back, sinking into the mattress, “Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing her? I’d support you and Nayeonie all the way, Jennie-yah.”

“You would?” Jennie manages to squeak out. She feels her own heart drop.

“Of course…” A pause. Jennie wills herself to not tear up, “That explains why you’ve been out and hanging around with her a lot recently... I should have noticed earlier, huh?” Jisoo chuckles, but there’s no humor in her tone.

“But that’s… okay. I know Nayeon is someone who can take care of you. If she hurts you, well… I’m here to break her face,” Jisoo mutters with a hoarse voice. 

“You’re afraid of butterflies, unnie,” Jennie chuckles wetly, “How’re you supposed to do that?”

“I have my ways,” Jisoo says so seriously that Jennie doesn’t know how to respond. 

“It’s late Jennie-yah,” Jisoo starts when she realizes how silent her best friend has become, “We should sleep. Good night, Jennie,” She says and moves to turn away from Jennie.

For the first time in years of training and debuting together, Jisoo doesn’t move to cuddle Jennie to sleep.


	10. VII.II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so this chapter should be longer (& was supposed to complete the fic), but I didn't want to miss jennie day so i decided to just split the chapters to have a part 3 instead bc i write at a snails pace dkjfhksdf 
> 
> happy jennie day!

-VII.II-

While Blackpink’s company leaves them with little to no plans for the next few months after concluding their last comeback’s promotions, Jisoo decides that she wants to be lazy and rest for the entirety of it. She thinks deserves it after all of her hard work.

But of course her plans never really turn out how she wants them to when Lisa and Chaeyoung are involved. The one day Jennie decides to hang out with her other friends is the same day both of the maknaes drag her into the unknown.

“Where are we going?” Jisoo asks while Lisa drags her by the arm, practically chucking the eldest into the van, “It’s too early for this!”

“We’re going on a trip!” Chaeyoung sings, and Lisa’s quick to tag along, “In our favorite rocketship!”

The pair continue to sing, while Jisoo whines loudly, “Manager-nim, why are you letting them do this?”

“You need to get out of the house sometimes, Jisoo,” Their manager shrugs and starts the van, “And not just for schedules,” Their manager says pointedly and Jisoo whines.

“Soaring through the skyyy~!” Lisa and Chaeyoung yell out enthusiastically.

This is the one time Jennie’s not around, and Jisoo feels like a parent having to watch over her kids on a field trip.

* * *

The sun shines gently on all three of them when they get out of the van. When Jisoo gathers her bearings and squints at the giant sign nailed onto a tree, she can’t help but suddenly ask.

“Excuse me, we’re climbing a  _ what?!”  _ Jisoo turns to glare at the maknaes as soon as her poor eyesight finally processes the words.

  
“A mountain!” Lisa shouts happily, “Don’t worry unnie, we picked an easy trek since you get tired easily,” She nods to herself proudly, sending a thumbs up to Jisoo.

“You both know I hate physical activity, right?” Jisoo looks between her two friends.

“If you actually did, you wouldn’t be an idol, unnie,” Chaeyoung claps back and Jisoo sighs in defeat. It’s not like she can say no when the couple prepared for everything already. The pair prepared Jisoo’s bags and equipment before even telling her about anything. How they managed to grab her stuff while she was in her bed for majority of the day is a mystery to Jisoo. They even volunteered to carry most of the bags, well aware that Jisoo is the least athletic out of all of them.

“Does Jennie know that we’re here?” Jisoo can’t help but ask. Even though Blackpink doesn’t have a formal leader, everyone usually lets both Jisoo and Jennie know of their whereabouts just to be safe.

“...Yes?” Lisa says while Chaeyoung turns away from the both of them. Jisoo can already tell that Lisa’s lying. Rosé’s looking away because she can’t lie herself. The eldest only raises a brow at the maknae as she crosses her arms to get her point across.

“Okay, we didn’t tell Jennie unnie. She’d kill us if she knew you were going to go hiking with us!” Lisa whines loudly, “But it’s not as dangerous as you think, you can trust us! Right Chaeyoungie?” The maknae pulls Rosé towards herself as they both throw puppy eyes at Jisoo.

“...Fine,” Jisoo gives in without much of a fight, and already the two makanes are celebrating much too loudly.

“But all of us better stay in one piece when we get back down here!” Jisoo tries to add in the midst of their celebration.

* * *

The trek isn’t hard, both Lisa and Chaeyoung say, but Jisoo has absolutely no experience of climbing a mountain of any kind, and it shows. Both Lisa and Chaeyoung have their eyes on the eldest as they flank her to make sure she’s safe. Every time Jisoo makes a small slip, both of the maknaes have their arms wide open, ready to assist her. Lisa stays behind Jisoo in case she slips, and Rosé leads the group and helps the eldest by telling her the safest places to step on.

By the time they reach the top, Jisoo’s a sweaty mess. Both of the maknaes, however, haven’t broken a sweat in the duration of the climb. Jisoo thinks it's because the couple spent more time waiting for her to catch up than climbing the mountain. If Jennie were with them, they’d probably be even more tired trying to assist the both of them, the eldest thinks. The sun’s already completely up by the time they get to the peak. Instead of feeling hot, the cool wind of being up so high sends some chills down Jisoo’s back.

Jisoo can already take a hint at why the pair decided to bring her here. During their trainee days, the two used to always ask if they could meet up at the rooftop of the company building whenever they wanted to talk or just get away from the world for a while. Jisoo fondly remembers that it’s Jennie who started talking to the maknaes on the rooftop when things were hard for them. She figures that this is their new way of doing that now that they have time to actually get out of the city.

“Is there a reason why you brought me here?” Jisoo starts once she’s done chugging down her bottle of water, tossing it beside her backpack on the ground, “If it’s trouble in paradise, I don’t think I’m the best person to ask,” The eldest jokes, knowing that the couple have been as strong as ever.

“Have you ever wanted something that seems so… unbelievably out of reach?” Rosé says urushering Jisoo to sit down on a nearby rock beside her.

Jisoo turns to face Chaeyoung completely, “Well being in a group with you guys only sounded like a dream,” She says, already seeing the frown form in both of the maknaes’ faces, “But by some miracle, here I am,” Jisoo grins, throwing finger guns to lighten up the mood.

“By miracle you mean Jennie, right?” Lisa quips and settles beside Rosé.

Jisoo can’t help but smile fondly as she decides to dodge the question, “Both of you are idiots for fighting because of me, by the way. Chaeyoung wins over both of you any day with her pasta,”

“We know that’s a lie, unnie,” Rosé’s quick to retaliate, “You can’t resist Jennie’s mandu cheeks,” She jokes, and Jisoo rolls her eyes.

“You’re…” Jisoo pauses as she remembers squishing Jennie’s cheeks. The eldest practically strangled Jennie with a scarf before she left, knowing the weather would be too cold for her best friend, “Not wrong. But what’s the real reason you both dragged me here today?” She asks.

Jisoo can see both Lisa and Chaeyoung’s entwined hands both fidgeting. She sees the both of them struggle to say anything first as they not so subtly nudge at each other’s shoulders.

“You see we—” Chaeyoung nervously starts.

“We’re here to talk about your feelings  _ and _ help you get the girl, unnie!” Lisa practically yells in an attempt to explain the situation normally.

“Excuse me, what?”

The eldest wonders what they mean by that. All of them know that she’s not seeing anyone at the moment, nor has she been with anyone… Like, at all. Jisoo realizes quite belatedly that she and Jennie haven’t actually dated anyone, now that she thinks about it.

“I… don’t understand?” Jisoo mutters, looking between her friends for clarification, “If you think I’m seeing anyone in secret, that’s not the case. Jennie would’ve caught me already if I were.”

“See?” Lisa flails her long arms into the air, “There is not a single moment where you don’t mention Jennie unnie.”

“What about it? She’s a member of our group and my best friend, so of course she’s going to be in our conversations one way or another?” She involuntarily tilts her head. Jisoo doesn’t want to look into the stares she’s getting from both of the maknaes. 

Maybe Jennie would—

Jisoo freezes. Lisa might not be completely wrong… Jennie always seems to be on her mind these days. But when has she not? They’ve been attached to the hip since childhood, so that should be natural for them to think about each other all of the time, right? Jisoo suddenly feels her chest tighten, something feels off.

“I don’t know, unnie,” Chaeyoung sighs wistfully as she turns her gaze to the horizon, bringing Jisoo out of her thoughts, “As much as I love my friends, I don’t think about them every minute of the day and include them in every conversation… unless it’s about Lisa, of course.”

Lisa shrugs, “Yeah, like… is it normal for two homies to make rings for each other and to go out on a rollerskating date while looking at each other like  _ that? _ I mean, you both have done worse before that— I think I’d die being in a bath alone with Chaeyoungie, you both weren’t even five feet away from each other— but, y’know _... _ ” The maknae rambles and makes random hand gestures as she speaks.

_ “What?” _ Jisoo blurts out as soon as everything clicks, “You guys think I like Jennie. You made me climb a mountain just because you both think I like Jennie,” She surmises and laughs humorlessly, leveling a stare at the both of them.

Jisoo tries to ignore the churning at the pit of her stomach. She tries to ignore how her chest tightens when she thinks of Jennie. They’re best friends. They’ve been best friends for their whole lives.

Jisoo shakes her head. That just  _ can’t _ be.

“I mean... Are we wrong, unnie?” Rosé starts, “If you tell me you’ll be fine,  _ completely okay _ with Jennie dating someone else right now, we’ll drop this,” She talks back bravely, now looking at Jisoo.

“Just because it looks like that to you, doesn’t mean it is,” Jisoo says in a warning tone as she gets up. The thought of Jennie dating someone else sends her mind spiraling into places she’s never even considered before. She tries not to think about Jennie any more than she already is.

“Actions can speak louder than words, unnie,” Chaeyoung challenges the eldest, “I can see the look in your eyes whenever you look at Jennie… Please stop denying it.”

The eldest glares at Chaeyoung, “I don’t see Jennie in that way. I’m fine with her dating—” Jisoo doesn’t realize that she’s stopped talking. Her mind pictures Jennie happily clinging onto someone else and the thought alone makes her insides churn. She suddenly gets up and paces around.

Jisoo can’t fathom why she feels so irrationally angry at the thought of someone else caring for Jennie. Shouldn’t she be happy when Jennie finds someone who cares as much, if not more, than she does? Perhaps it’s her protectiveness over Jennie getting to her? However, Jisoo knows deep down that she’s always been a rather protective friend to those she’s close to.

Jisoo also knows that deep down, what she feels for Jennie is different as much as she doesn’t want to admit it.

Lisa decides to join the conversation, getting up to squeeze her girlfriend’s hand to calm her down before she gets up herself.

“Look unnie, we’re not here to back you into a corner,” Lisa says once she gets in front of Jisoo and takes a hold of the eldest’s hands, stopping her from walking, “It’s just… We love the both of you and we think that you could both be happier together... Not that you aren’t already, but being  _ together _ is different, and it’s… I can’t even begin to describe it, unnie.”

“I—” Jisoo steps back, and Lisa releases her hold. The eldest can’t help but let out a deep sigh.

She can’t get Jennie out of her mind. As much as she denied it earlier, the thought of being with Jennie sends a whole swarm of butterflies straight into her stomach despite all the risks she knows would have to be taken just to tell her how she feels.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, same,” Lisa says in a somber tone. The couple watch as Jisoo slowly slumps to the ground and curls into a ball of hopelessness.

“Well that was fast,” Rosé says as she watches Jisoo, happily surprised at the eldest’s sudden admission, until she realizes something.

“Why do you say that like you aren’t already with me?” Rosé spins to face Lisa as she raises an accusatory brow.   
  
“Mood,” Lisa supplies helpfully, obviously teasing her girlfriend as she pretends to be forlorn.

“Lisa!” Chaeyoung shouts.

“Anyways let’s talk about your feelings now that you’re acknowledging them, Jisoo unnie,” Lisa pointedly ignores her girlfriend as she plops down beside Jisoo’s curled form.

Jisoo can only groan in response. She hates talking about her feelings when she’s supposed to be the one listening and giving advice.

“Lalisa Manoban, don’t ignore me!”

* * *

The three of them end up talking about their feelings openly which is a feat in itself given that Jisoo hates talking about her emotions. Jisoo realizes many things after their hiking trip and the days that creep closer and closer to her birthday.

For starters, she’s probably been in love with Jennie for longer than she can tell. JIsoo can’t tell when her platonic feelings evolved into something more because of how natural it is to just... be with Jennie. Even everyone knows that when there’s Jisoo, Jennie is never far behind. In fact, she’s never behind Jisoo. Jennie’s always been by Jisoo’s side. They fit together like lock and key, and Jisoo never questioned anything about their clingy dynamic until recently.

Jisoo isn’t as dense as what both Chaeyoung and Lisa think whenever they try to nudge her in Jennie’s direction. It’s just, she just doesn’t want anything to change. It’s like what they say, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. 

Sure Lisa and Chaeyoung have managed to make them work, but Jisoo isn’t as reckless as she shows on TV. Trying to make a move might cost their whole careers. Not to mention, she might just break her family’s heart. Her parents always talk about how she’s going to end up finding the perfect husband— she doesn’t want a husband, but she doesn’t want to disappoint her parents either.

To add to that, Jisoo knows her best friend. She’s seen her have fleeting crushes on people every now and then. She knows that Jennie isn’t interested in her in that way, it’s as clear as day.

Jennie’s shown some different sides of her that Jisoo doesn’t understand. But Jisoo thinks everyone has a little part of themselves that only they can understand. Jennie’s sudden sentimental (and quite gloomy) mood during their trip to Jeju years ago is something Jisoo might not completely comprehend, but she’s sure Jennie would tell her if it were something important.

All in all, Jisoo doesn’t understand why the maknaes are so persistent about it.

* * *

Jisoo ends up inadvertently avoiding Jennie to avoid Lisa and Chaeyoung’s teasing. The two apologize when they realize what they’ve done, but Jisoo ends up distancing herself from Jennie anyway to protect her own heart.

There’s not much to avoid when Jennie’s out so often.

Jisoo doesn’t notice.

* * *

When Jisoo finds herself snuggled between Jennie’s arms on the night before her birthday, she can’t help but feel flustered all of a sudden. Ever since she opened up more about her feelings to both Chaeyoung and Lisa, she finds her heart racing at every glance and every touch. She both hates and loves that when Jennie’s home, all she does is cling to her side.

Jisoo feels especially embarrassed when she realizes that there are two pairs of eyes staring right at them. The eldest tries to ignore the two mischievous maknaes as she forces herself to focus on whatever movie Rosé’s decided on for tonight. She’s honestly not sure if she wants this to be over soon or not.

Jisoo focuses her gaze to the window, staring at the quarter moon shining in the distance. Chaeyoung’s words from weeks ago echo in her mind.

_ Have you ever wanted something that seems so… unbelievably out of reach? _

Jisoo rolls her eyes at her own thoughts. It’d be so easy if she could just wish for Jennie for her birthday.

She stops in her tracks at the thought, and decides that her brain has done enough thinking for today.

She shuts her brain off, and continues to watch the movie.

* * *

“Happy Birthday Jisoo!” Jennie, Lisa and Chaeyoung yell happily as they pull Jisoo away from the ongoing movie. 

Jisoo realizes that she did manage to shut her brain off as she whines, “Wait, we were getting to the good part!” She tries to grab Jennie’s hoodie pocket to pull her back to the couch, but the younger woman jumps away from her at a surprising speed with both hands tucked firmly into the large pocket of her jacket. Jisoo ends up whining even louder. The movie Chaeyoung picked was just getting to the good part!

* * *

When Jisoo finally gets to opening her gifts after much convincing, she’s just about ready to have a whole smackdown with both Lisa and Chaeyoung. When she joked about getting Jennie for her birthday to the both of them, she didn’t mean to get her a whole standee!

After diffusing the whole situation at everyone’s reaction to the present, Jisoo doesn’t look back at Jennie when she moves Lisa’s gift elsewhere; she would rather not see the look on Jennie’s face right now.

Honestly, Jisoo genuinely fears the pot-shaped gift Rosé has in her hands more now. She knows the couple always coordinate their gifts; they’re notorious for it. Last Christmas, they got Jennie an ugly christmas sweater with ugly sweatpants _ and _ glittery socks to go with it. Her best friend was on the front page of all the social media platforms when Lisa challenged her to post her unfashionable outfit to instagram.

With an encouraging nudge from Rosé, Jisoo plops back down on the couch and opens the gift quickly to just get on with it. She makes some quips here and there to distract everyone when she unwraps the gift.

When she realizes that it’s an actual literal pot, Jisoo can only look at Rosé blankly, “You know I can’t cook, right?”

“Yeah, but you wanted to learn how to make dumplings before!” Chaeyoung clasps her hands enthusiastically, and Jisoo feels like the young woman is about to say something embarrassing, “So you can make some for Jennie unnie!”

There it is.

“Excuse me, what—” Jisoo tries to interrupt Chaeyoung, but the vocalist is much too loud.

After a few more jokes and some arguing, Rosé encourages Jisoo to open the lid. Lisa makes sure to hobble over to the couch, flanking the eldest as Jisoo hesitantly takes the lid off. She can’t trust these two at all.

Inside the pot contains actual ingredients to make dumplings, a box of fancy chocolates, and a piece of paper cut into a heart that says,  _ ‘If you want Jennie for your birthday so badly, you have to get her yourself! <3 This is just a starter pack of how to get the girl. Fighting!’ _

When Jisoo finishes reading the note, she pulls the two maknaes into a chokehold, “Yah! I’m disowning the both of you!” 

Jisoo won’t let them get away with this easily, that’s for sure.

“What’s inside, unnie?” Jisoo suddenly hears Jennie ask.

At the speed of light, (or as fast as her limbs can move) Jisoo hastily tosses the pot away, making sure the lid stays on. The pot falls to the ground with a loud clang that makes everyone wince.

“Nothing important!” She practically yells, hoping Jennie doesn’t point out the anxiousness in her voice, “Chaeyoungie put in ingredients for the dumplings with fake cockroaches in it,” Jisoo turns to face Jennie as she involuntarily pouts.

The room suddenly falls quiet, and Jisoo doesn’t know what to make of Jennie staring at her. She notices belatedly that Lisa and Rosé have already scampered off to their (Lisa’s) room while Jennie seems to be zoning out.

Clearing her throat, Jisoo decides to break the now awkward silence, “Is that for me?”

“Yeah. Happy Birthday, Jichu-yah,” Jennie says softly, handing Jisoo the present. She moves to sit beside Jisoo. The eldest tries to not jump at the sudden contact when Jennie sits much too closely to her.

Jisoo unwraps the gift slowly, not wanting to ruin the neat wrapping, and is met with an elegant photo album.

“I know photography and all are more of Lisa’s thing,” Jennie begins, “But I know you two have been messing around with cameras lately... I thought it’d be nice to be able to put them altogether, because I know that deep down, you’re a sap too,” Jennie fidgets as she explains herself, and Jisoo can’t help but smile at her best friend’s thoughtfulness.

“Thank you, Jendeukie,” Jisoo breathes out, clutching onto the photo album. The eldest hopes Jennie can tell how thankful she is, and not just for the present.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Jennie says, “I added a picture of us on the first page to start it off.”

Jisoo’s smile widens when she opens the album and sees a photo of the both of a timid four year old Jennie, and a brave five-and-a-half year old Jisoo. She can’t help but fondly reminisce on their memories together.

Jisoo tries to ignore the part of her brain that tries to tell her that she could lose all of what’s to come if she does anything stupid.

“This is gonna be full before the year ends, Jendeukie,” Jisoo mutters softly, still looking at the picture and pushing down her negative thoughts, “We have so many photos together. Chaeyoung-ah and Lisa-yah have double that amount too. I just need to steal some from them,” Jisoo chuckles. 

“Hold on, I still have another gift for you, unnie,” Jennie pipes up when Jisoo closes the photo album. Jennie takes a deep breath, and somehow the action brings JIsoo back to their trip to Jeju.

Jisoo doesn’t understand why Jennie seems so nervous.

“You really didn’t have to…” Jisoo says as she looks at Jennie, trying to reassure her.

Jisoo’s jaw drops at the sight of the expensive ring, “Jennie, I…”

Her words get stuck in her throat. If she said anything now, Jisoo thinks, she’d definitely end up crying.

“I wanted to. You deserve everything, Jisoo. Happy Birthday,” Jennie says softly.

The whole world suddenly feels like it’s slowing down when Jennie slides the jewelry into Jisoo’s ring finger. Jisoo raises her head to see Jennie biting her lip nervously.

She doesn’t understand why her best friend seems to be hesitating.

When Jisoo feels Jennie’s hold slacken, her body moves on its own. The eldest suddenly pulls Jennie into a tight embrace. Jisoo hugs her tightly, with no regard for personal space or her own poor heart.

“I lo— I want you to wear that instead of our promise ring from now on,” Jennie says, but Jisoo doesn’t catch whatever Jennie was trying to say first, “You can even remove the _ JJ4EVA _ one too, since I didn’t engrave it that well.” 

“What?” Jisoo extends her arms to meet Jennie's gaze, mildly offended that Jennie would want her to take off the other rings, “I can just wear all our rings, you know… If you want,” Jisoo jokes, smiling at her best friend.

“Unnie, I know you only wear rings on one hand because you don’t like how it feels on your left,” Jennie mutters softly, and Jisoo can tell that her best friend must be quite tired already as she moves her hair behind her ear.

“It’ll be simpler to just wear that one alone. But keep it on that finger, okay? You’re mine,” Jennie says nonchalantly, as if reading off of a grocery list while Jisoo short circuits.

She swallows, unable to do anything but stare at her best friend.

Jisoo belatedly realizes that she’s supposed to reply.

“A-Anything for you, Jendeukie,” Jisoo smiles and can’t hold off the urge to kiss Jennie’s forehead. Jisoo doesn’t realize what she’s done until she pulls back from the kiss.

“Thank you, for everything,” Jisoo, by some miracle, manages to say properly as she tries to calm down.

The recipient of her words, however, doesn’t respond. Jennie’s form is slouched, and her hair obscures her entire face. Jisoo wonders if she’s crossed a line. It’s always Jennie that does the little cheek kisses here and there, not her, and Jisoo never really asked if returning the favor is something Jennie’s okay with. She’s never asked since she’s never wanted to do so... until recently.

Worried, Jisoo tries to gauge her best friend's reaction until she feels Jennie’s entire weight slump into her form.

“Oh,” Jisoo mutters when she realizes that Jennie’s already fallen asleep against her, “You must’ve been really tired, Mandu-yah,” She says affectionately, stroking her hair.

“Let’s get you to bed.”

* * *

While Jisoo doesn’t want to admit it, she may have asked Lisa for a bit of help in carrying an unconscious Jennie back to her room. It’s kind of hard to carry someone who stands at the same height as yourself, (Jisoo refuses to admit that Jennie’s half an inch taller than her) and it’s even harder to carry someone who’s fast asleep.

Either way, Jisoo accomplishes her mission of bringing Jennie to bed without waking her up.

The eldest gently removes Jennie’s hair ties and rings, (Jennie still makes sure to wear each ring they share together when she’s home) neatly arranging them on the nightstand. She breathes out a sigh of relief when Jennie doesn’t even stir from all the movement. 

Jisoo spots the Jennie standee at the corner of her room just as she steps back from the bed and decides to approach the life-sized cutout.

With her hands on her hips, Jisoo starts, “I’ll get you a better gift on your birthday, just you wait, Jennie-ah,” Jisoo whispers, “Good night... I- I love you,” She says and turns around abruptly when she catches herself.

“...Why am I talking to a standee?” Jisoo slaps herself on the forehead, the sound echoing around the room.

“...Jisoo-yaah,” Jisoo freezes at the sound of Jennie’s mumbling from the bed, hoping that her best friend’s still asleep.

When the coast is clear, and Jennie flops to face the other way, she finally moves to cuddle her best friend to sleep. Jisoo tries to ignore the loud beating of her heart and the younger woman mumbling her name as she sleeps peacefully, completely dead to the world.

* * *

When morning comes, Jisoo realizes that maybe she really shouldn’t have asked Lisa to help her last night. The eldest watches as Jennie jumps off of the bed at record speed just to hunt down one Lalisa Manoban because Lisa thought that scaring Jennie with a standee in the morning would be funny.

It’s not when Jennie’s chasing you with nothing but her grumpy morning self and the unadulterated rage that comes with being disturbed at such an hour.

* * *

Jennie receives a handful of texts during breakfast as the four of them eat. Jisoo can’t help but feel a bit irritated that her best friend’s attention seems to be so divided today, of all days. 

The younger woman isn’t even able to finish her meal when she abruptly stands up and tells them that she needs to go somewhere immediately.

Jisoo doesn’t exactly understand what’s happening, but she nods and lets Jennie go.

Jisoo makes sure that Jennie doesn’t leave without a scarf on, and promises that they’ll wait for her to come back before blowing out the candles on Jisoo’s cake.

* * *

Jennie doesn’t come back during the day. Jisoo stays holed up in her room, texting her and waiting for a response. She’s not sure what’s wrong, but she keeps messaging, asking if she’s okay and if she needs someone to pick her up, or something.

Jisoo’s too worried about Jennie that she doesn’t realize that Lisa and Chaeyoung have invited the rest of their friends over and have practically redecorated the whole place. When Jisoo finally takes a step out of her room, she’s greeted by darkness.

“Hey Chaeyoungie, Lisa, why are the lights—” Jisoo’s abruptly cut off.

“Happy Birthday Jisoo!” Jisoo’s friends from Twice and Red Velvet all shout happily, some of them with party poppers at the ready. Looking around the place, Jisoo can see decor smacked all over the place, and Jisoo can’t help but smile fondly even if the place looks hastily decorated by five year olds.

Jisoo grins happily, her eyes searching for one person in the crowd of people in their dorm.

When Lisa and Chaeyoung burst into the room holding a cake, Jisoo wonders where Jennie is. Before she can even ask, Jihyo swoops in and encourages Jisoo to make a wish as she lights the candles. Jisoo pretends not to notice how everyone seems to steer them away from the topic of Jennie as they celebrate.

Jisoo doesn’t even realize that Nayeon’s nowhere to be found either as she toys with the ring on her finger, hoping that Jennie comes back soon as she swats Seulgi and Momo away from taking the last slice of cake.

In the end, Jisoo decides to wish for Jennie’s happiness and safety.

  
  
  


Jennie doesn’t return until it’s three in the morning with Jisoo passed out on the couch, waiting for her to come back home.

* * *

A week passes, and Jisoo feels like something’s changed with her best friend.

She tries to ignore it. Jisoo tries to ignore the way it makes her feel uneasy, and how it makes her stomach churn. Jennie’s clearly hiding something, but she isn’t telling Jisoo what it is. As much as Jisoo wants Jennie to tell her when she’s comfortable, Jisoo can’t help but feel that Jennie’s been avoiding her lately.    
  
Sometimes Jisoo thinks that she’s just being irrational and jealous now that she’s realized her feelings. Just because Jennie’s going out more often doesn’t mean she’s avoiding her or hiding anything from her, right? Jennie’s allowed to have other friends too, and Jisoo thinks that she might just be blowing things out of proportion.

Right?

Jisoo wonders if she is as she watches her best friend, lost in thought. Jennie’s been lying down on the bed, but her body remains rather stiff. She’s been doing that a lot lately and it worries Jisoo.

“A penny for your thoughts, Jendeukie-ah?” Jisoo asks, joining Jennie under the large weighted blanket she’s settled herself in. It’s automatic, how the both of them adjust to cuddling with Jisoo as the big spoon to Jennie’s little spoon.

“I just,” Jennie hesitantly starts, and Jisoo hates that she seems to be hesitating because of her, “You’re always on my mind, unnie. I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Oh?” A pause. Jisoo tightens her grip on her best friend. She doesn’t know what to do with that sort of information, “Well if it helps, you’re always in mine too. Sometimes I worry that you’ll die of a heart attack because you’re scared of a lot of things, you know? Remember that variety show where you ended up crying?” Jisoo says honestly, hoping she said the right thing. 

When she doesn’t receive a response in return, Jisoo decides to try something else.

“Why don’t we have a movie marathon tomorrow night? You've been out a lot and I’ve missed you,” Jisoo says casually. She's never been one to express her feelings, and she hopes Jennie can read between the lines, “You choose your favorites and I get to eat all the snacks I want.”   
  


There’s a pause, like Jennie’s thinking about something, and the silence makes Jisoo’s heart sink.

“I… actually have plans for tomorrow night,” Jennie mumbles out.

“Oh,” Jisoo says, biting her lip, “Why do you sound so nervous?”

Jisoo hopes it isn’t what she thinks it is.

“It’s a date, with Nayeon,” Jennie says, squirming in Jisoo’s hold, “Is that okay with you?”

“Why wouldn’t it be okay with me?” Jisoo asks, and decides to play dense, “Actually, do you mind if I tag along—”

“It’s a  _ date _ date, unnie,” Jennie bites her lip, and Jisoo loosens her hold.

Jisoo feels her heart shatter in her chest.

“Oh,” Breathing in sharply, Jisoo detaches herself completely from Jennie as she flops on her back, sinking into the mattress, “Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing her?” 

Jisoo feels like an idiot. She should’ve known. What a best friend she is, not noticing all of the signs just because she got caught up with her own feelings for her.

She should’ve been a better best friend.

“I’d support you and Nayeonie all the way, Jennie-yah,” Jisoo says, trying to ignore how much saying the words sting.

“You would?” Jennie manages to squeak out. 

Jisoo feels her heart drop.

“Of course…” A pause. Jisoo wills herself to continue, “That explains why you’ve been out and hanging around with her a lot recently... I should have noticed earlier, huh?” Jisoo chuckles, but there’s no humor in her tone.

“But that’s… okay,” Jisoo breathes in deeply. If Nayeon makes Jennie happy, she has to be there for her, “I know Nayeon is someone who can take care of you. If she hurts you, well… I’m here to break her face,” Jisoo mutters with a hoarse voice. 

“You’re afraid of butterflies, unnie,” Jennie chuckles and Jisoo feels weak, “How’re you supposed to do that?”

“I have my ways,” Jisoo says seriously, and Jennie doesn’t respond.

“It’s late Jennie-yah,” Jisoo starts when she realizes how silent her best friend has become, and out of everything that’s happened to them, Jisoo thinks that Jennie’s silence hurts her the most.

“We should sleep. Good night, Jennie,” She says and moves to turn away from Jennie.

For the first time in years of training and debuting together, Jisoo doesn’t move to cuddle Jennie to sleep.

Jisoo can’t find it in herself to stay strong for much longer.


	11. -VII.III-

-VII.III-

Jisoo wakes up quite late the next day. Despite how late it is already, the eldest still feels exhausted and sluggish after what had happened the night before. The sheets beside her are cold, and the dorm feels as empty as ever. Shifting to her side, Jisoo picks up her phone and decides to browse for a bit before getting up.

She immediately closes her phone when she finds an article about Jennie and Nayeon's growing closeness. Tossing her phone away on the empty side of the mattress, Jisoo scolds herself for being jealous.

Jisoo knows she should be happy for Jennie. She’s Jennie’s best friend, but she’s not  _ hers. _

Deciding to get out of bed, Jisoo sees the standee facing her. She stares at the fake Jennie grinning at her intently. Memories she shares with her best friend resurface, and Jisoo shuts her eyes, trying to tamp everything down. She presses the palms of her hands into her closed eyes before she eventually sighs and gets out of bed.

With a frown and watery eyes, Jisoo turns the fake Jennie to face elsewhere.

Why can’t she be content with being Jennie’s best friend?

* * *

The news of Jennie’s date with Nayeon quickly spreads to the rest of the dorm when everyone notices Jennie practically going through her entire wardrobe in search of an outfit for her dinner date later that afternoon. It’s the first time in a while that Jennie’s been in her room for so long, Jennie thinks as she tries to bury herself into her closet. 

Most of her clothes and things are in Jisoo’s room, after all.

From her peripheral, Jennie can see her dormmates through the open door. Rosé’s watching her every move from the living room as she munches on a piece of toast. Meanwhile Lisa’s head rests on the vocalist’s lap. The maknae mindlessly scrolls through her phone, but also drops the device to check on her unnie. Jennie can feel the disappointment in both Chaeyoung’s and Lisa’s gazes.

In the midst of the mess that she’s made, Jisoo suddenly emerges from a large pile of clothes. Jennie squeaks and falls on her butt out of shock.

“Yah!” Jennie yells, her hand clutching her chest, “What were you doing in there?! How did you get here?!”

Jisoo just raises a brow and shrugs. For a moment Jennie’s absolutely confused until the older woman finally speaks up.

“I’m just being the best, duh,” Jisoo huffs and shoves a pile of clothes into Jennie’s arms, “Wear this dress. It makes your butt look great and this cardigan would match it too for when you get cold,” Jisoo says conclusively.

As much as Jennie wants to say something— like ask what the hell Jisoo’s doing— her best friend is already one step ahead of her.

“You’re not going to say no to a cardigan because it’s too cold to be going out without some form of warmth,” Jisoo says straightforwardly without meeting Jennie’s gaze before she suddenly disappears into the pile of clothes once more.

“Aaand, these should go well with everything too,” Jisoo mutters as she reappears with a pair of stilettos and a purse.

Jennie blinks twice, dumbfounded, and Jisoo takes all of the clothes still in Jennie’s hands to lay them out on the bed.

“What?” Jisoo asks once she’s straightened out Jennie’s clothes on the mattress, tossing a few random garments on the bed away. Jennie continues to stare blankly at her best friend.

“What are you doing, Jisoo-yah?” Jennie finally mumbles out as she refocuses her gaze to look at the outfit Jisoo picked instead.

“Helping you choose an outfit?” Jisoo says like it’s a question, “I can tell you’re nervous, Jendeuk. I know your style well enough to help you come up with something to wear before you end up being late to, uh... your date,” Jisoo stumbles on her last words as she looks at the ground.

Jennie doesn’t know what to make of this, what to make of her best friend at all.

She feels like an idiot, second guessing her best friend of all things. Jennie sighs, she really has to get her shit together.

“Sorry, was that too much?” Jisoo mutters timidly, a tone Jennie’s only heard from her best friend during their trainee days, when she was criticized for putting on too much weight. Jennie wants to slap herself in the face for being the cause of it.

“No. You’re never too much,”  _ You’re always enough for me _ , she wants to add, but can’t find the courage to do so. Instead she reaches over to entwine their hands together, “Thank you, unnie.”

A small yet breathtaking smile blooms from Jisoo’s face. Jennie would’ve been blown away had it not been for the sad looking eyes that wilt alongside it. 

“Have fun on your date, Jendeukie,” Jisoo says softly, “When you hit it off with Nayeon-ah, don’t forget to hang out with me too, okay?” The eldest’s voice cracks, and Jennie is half tempted to cancel her plans to risk it all for her best friend.

She’ll never be able to move on at this rate.

“I’ll never forget about you, Jichu, what are you talking about?” Jennie moves to pull Jisoo into a tight hug, “I hope you know that no date will ever take me away from you, unnie. We’re forever,” She says as sincerely as she can.

* * *

Jisoo tries her best to stop counting down the minutes to Jennie’s date by occupying herself with Jennie.

It’s not Jisoo’s brightest idea to date, but she does what she has to when she notices that Jennie looks quite nervous. It brings a frown to her own face to see Jennie in such a state. She practically feels what Jennie feels, after all. It makes Jisoo wonder, shouldn’t she be going on a date with someone she’s comfortable with? Moreover, both of them know Nayeon long enough for Jennie not to be acting so strangely.

Jisoo just doesn’t get it.

“Unnie,” Lisa pulls Jisoo out of her thoughts, “Chaeyoungie and I are also gonna be out in a while. Will you be okay here by yourself?” The maknae asks tentatively.

Jisoo rolls her eyes playfully, “Of course it is, Lalisa,” She quips, trying to lift the mood.

The eldest can tell that Lisa’s already noticed her change in mood when Jennie locked her room to change clothes, “Go have fun with Chaeyoungie! You both don’t have to hang around me all the time because I get it, you’re dating. So go be gay and happy together,” She continues, reassuring Lisa with a wide smile.

Lisa still looks hesitant but nods anyway. At almost the same time, both Lisa and Jisoo open their mouths to speak up. But before either of them can say anything else, Jennie bursts out of her room.

Jisoo’s jaw drops before her brain can register much, and the eldest hears a wolf whistle from right beside her.

“Daaaamn,” Lisa’s quick to hype Jennie up, “Make way for Jennie Kim!” She yells, and that causes Chaeyoung to stumble out of her room to see Jennie as well.

“Woah, unnie!” Rosé yells, and the couple holler at Jennie proudly.

Meanwhile, Jisoo’s still at a complete loss for words.

She knows that Jennie would look good— Jennie would look perfect in anything— but it seems that Jisoo didn’t anticipate the heart attack that would come with seeing Jennie in the outfit she chose for her.

JIsoo bites her lip as she gawks at her best friend. She can barely hear Rosé gushing over Jennie’s whole ensemble as she spins circles around Jennie. Her best friend’s hair is slightly curled, and the dress she’s wearing has just the perfect slit to show of her flawless legs. The cardigan and heels go well with the outfit, and Jisoo feels like she’s falling.

_ Oh. _

_ Oh no. _

“Unnie,” At the sound of Jennie’s voice, some of Jisoo’s last few brain cells spark back to life, “What do you think?” She says and does a few half turns to show Jisoo her clothes. Jisoo pretends she doesn’t see Chaeyoung grinning mischievously in her peripheral

“You uh,” Jisoo mutters mindlessly, “Perfect, yes.”

Everyone in the room is silent as they stare at a still gaping Jisoo.

Lisa not-so-subtly elbows Jisoo. The eldest also pretends to not see the raised brow Jennie sends to her in return.

“Uh, I mean!” Jisoo practically yells, “That’s how Nayeonie will react when she sees you in that!” The eldest rests her hands on her hips in mock confidence as Lisa loudly whispers, ‘ _ Let’s go actress Jisoo!’ _ to Chaeyoung.

“Beautiful, show stopping, flawless, perfect,” Jisoo grins widely as she steps into Jennie’s space, moving some wayward strands of hair behind Jennie’s ear. 

She trembles a bit when she moves even closer to Jennie while her best friend stares at her with shining eyes. Jennie always looks at her this way, so softly and lovingly, and Jisoo realizes that she shouldn’t be thinking of this  _ now _ when she’s about to have a date with someone else. Jisoo tries to shake off her nerves, she has to be the _ bestest _ best friend to ever exist. She promised Jennie she would when they were kids.

Jisoo doesn’t intend to break that promise now.

“If Nayeon’s a bad date, I’ll be here with snacks and milk flavored ice cream, okay?” Jisoo mutters out softly, pinching Jennie’s cheek playfully. The eldest tries to memorize the finer details of Jennie’s face. She can’t help but feel that she has to, she won’t be seeing Jennie as often anymore if she ends up being Nayeon’s girlfriend.

Her thoughts all stay in her mind, but it still brings a bitter taste to her mouth.

“Okay, unnie,” Jennie says with some hesitation. Jisoo doesn’t understand why. The younger woman rests her forehead on Jisoo’s, “You’ll always be here for me, right?” She says, her voice barely above a whisper.

Before Jisoo can answer, Jennie’s phone rings in between them. When Jennie lifts her phone up to her ear, Jisoo notices that she’s wearing all of their rings.

Jisoo doesn’t have a lot of time to think about it because soon enough, Jennie’s being escorted by Nayeon into her car. The eldest tries not to break when she sees their silhouettes come a little bit too close to each other before Nayeon starts the car and drives away.

Jisoo can no longer control the tears that spill from her eyes.

* * *

“Jennie-yah, I wasn’t expecting you to actually go all out,” Nayeon snickers as they both take their seats. Jennie’s thankful that the older woman decided to book a private room at the restaurant. Dispatch would be all over them if they spotted them together again, and dinner would be nonexistent.

“It’s, well...” Jennie mutters as she fiddles with the rings on her fingers. She’s decided to wear all of her rings today despite them looking mismatched, “Jisoo chose my outfit for tonight.”

“Oh?” Nayeon’s brows raise up as she eyes Jennie curiously, her gaze lingering, “She knows your style well,” She pauses when a few servers come in to place their food on the table.

“Will you guys have fun after this or something?” Nayeon rests her chin in her hands and snickers. 

Jennie’s brows immediately scrunch together in confusion.

“No what are you talking about?”

“Um, aren’t you guys like  _ together _ now or something?” Nayeon asks, dumbfounded, “Look, I’m sorry you had to look after me on Jisoo’s birthday… I was being really stupid— but the ring!” She screams. Jennie feels even more relieved that Nayeon opted for a private room with how loud she is.

“What about it?” Jennie still can’t seem to connect the dots.

“You gave her a ring!” Nayeon cries out.

“I told you it wouldn’t make a difference,” Jennie huffs and Nayeon stabs her fork fiercely into her salad.

“Did you get rejected?” The older woman asks pointedly. Jennie can’t help but feel just a bit intimidated.

“I—”

“Let me guess; you didn’t even ask,” Nayeon interjects quickly, and Jennie deflates in her seat. The older woman munches on her salad aggressively.

Jennie sighs and runs a hand down her hair. She avoids Nayeon’s piercing gaze and decides to just pick at her food.

“No. I got scared,” She admits. Jennie knows it isn’t possible, but it feels like Nayeon’s growing in her seat when she hears Nayeon drop her fork on the plate.

“Scaredy cat Jennie-yah,” Nayeon starts, “When will you stop hiding?”

“You got rejected, unnie,” Jennie blurts out defensively, already frowning at her poor choice of words, “Jeongyeon didn’t even tell you why until you saw Jihyo kissing her. Jihyo and Jeongyeon didn’t even tell you they were dating, and they’re your best friends!” Jennie blurts out loudly and bites her lip to shut herself up.

Jennie feels terrible for hitting a nerve. She is well aware that Nayeon isn’t over everything that’s happened to her, either. The older woman is just much, much stronger than she will ever be. Even if she did decide to get drunk during the day. On Jisoo’s birthday, no less!

Jennie isn’t sure if Jisoo will ever forgive her for missing on her special day.

“Look,” Nayeon starts, bringing Jennie back to their conversation. The older woman looks away, tears pricking in her eyes, “That’s me, and not you. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and sometimes it does. That’s just life, Jennie,” Jennie tries to interject, feeling bad about snapping at Nayeon, but the older woman holds a hand up to stop her from talking.

Nayeon leans forward, picking her fork up again and pointing it at Jennie, “You came back from New Zealand just to be with Jisoo, and you didn’t even know your feelings for her back then. You’ve already risked it all for her, and not just once. You told me that _ you  _ stormed YGE’s executives to tell them to let Jisoo debut with you. And this? This is nothing compared to all of that, so what’s stopping you?” Nayeon leans back and pauses for a while to catch her breath.

In a softer tone, Nayeon takes a hold of Jennie’s hand and starts, “When Jisoo has someone else in the future, you’ll regret never telling her anything. You’ll regret never knowing whether you two could be more. If she rejects you badly and your friendship falls apart, at least you know that she isn’t a real friend to begin with. But both of us know that Jisoo-yah is better than that.”

“I— I’m so sorry Nayeon unnie. I didn’t mean to snap at you,” Jennie apologizes and Nayeon just lets go of her hand, waves her away and raises her wine glass.

“I know. We’re here for a good time, right? I didn’t pay this much for us to waste the food, you know?” She grins cheekily, and Jennie picks up her own glass to clink it with Nayeon’s.

“Why’d you choose such an expensive place anyway? I thought that this wasn’t an actual date, Nayeonie,” Jennie says after they take a drink.

“We’re both expensive girls, Jennie, you can’t deny it,” Nayeon answers playfully, and Jennie crosses her arms, pretending to be offended, “We deserve to have a treat once in a while,” The older one says and the conversation ends as both of them focus on their food.

The pair finally begin to eat in comfortable silence, both of them feeling much lighter after talking things out. Jennie shakes her head at Nayeon’s rather large appetite as she forks more things into her plate.

The food is good, definitely, but Jennie just can’t find it in herself to eat that much. She’s sure that she’ll be fighting Nayeon over the bill for this, feeling bad that she’s only eating so little despite the expensive meal. She imagines an imaginary Jisoo scolding her already for not eating. A small smile forms on her face when she fondly recalls her best friend’s concern over her rather poor eating habits.

Jennie also remembers how their managers would scold Jisoo for having food on her person when she was supposed to be on a diet. The only reason they let her get away with it was because she always says that the food is for Jennie. With that in mind, Jennie decides to eat a bit more.

Later, once she realizes that she’s practically cleared her plate, she sighs and drops her cutlery.

“You’re right,” Jennie looks at Nayeon who tries to ask what she means by that, “About the food, and what you said earlier…” The younger woman trails off.

Jennie straightens herself up in her seat, and Nayeon looks at her with a proud smile.

“I’ll confess to Jisoo tonight,” Jennie says, finality in her tone.

“That’s the spirit!” Nayeon grins widely, chugging down another glass of wine, “Jennie is a scaredy cat no more—”

Nayeon’s unable to finish her sentence when the private room’s door is slammed open, revealing a very disheveled Jeongyeon and Jihyo tailed by one of the waiters of the restaurant. Jennie’s eyes widen at the sight of them. The older woman, on the other hand, has yet to see them, a hand still rests on her chest out of shock.

“Nayeon!” Jeongyeon yells, and Nayeon’s quick to turn around.

“Jeongyeon? Jihyo?” “What are you both doing here?” Her features are painted in shock, and Jennie already feels like she needs to give the three of them some space over whatever this is.

“Do you know them, Miss Im?” The waiter asks, just about ready to kick the intruders out when Nayeon responds in an affirmative and shoos him away. Jennie briefly wonders how high class of a restaurant this is when they can’t even recognize Park Jihyo and Yoo Jeongyeon in the flesh.

“I— Can we talk? We just—” Jeongyeon’s face is red as she stumbles over her words. Her face is bare of make up and she looks like a mess.

“We’re sorry to disturb your date, Jennie-ssi. But we just really need to talk to Nayeon, it really can’t wait,” Jihyo’s eyes are puffy and red rimmed, and it’s honestly a bit concerning, but she’s much more composed as she asks politely.

Jennie’s honestly worried for the both of them but raising a curious brow at the both of them seems to have intimidated the two instead. They look like they ran all the way here, and with how intense both of their gazes are at Nayeon. She can only take a guess at why.

“Go on ahead,” Jennie shakes her head and smiles, hoping to appear friendlier, “I was going to go soon anyway,” She says and fixes herself to stand up, but not without leaning towards Nayeon first.

“Jennie—” Jennie can hear the panic in the older woman’s voice. This is probably how she sounded like whenever she’d hesitate to do something about her feelings for Jisoo.

“Don’t be a hypocrite now, unnie,” Jennie whispers, shooting her with a determined gaze.

“Only if you promise to stop being a coward,” Nayeon replies in an equally low volume.

“Deal.”

* * *

It’s Jisoo’s turn to be brave.

Or, at least, that’s what she has in mind until she arrives at the now closed restaurant. Sighing tiredly, Jisoo pulls up her mask closer to cover more of her face as she returns to her car. She’d hate to be on the front page of any media outlet while wearing a giant coat with just pyjamas beneath it.

If Jennie was headed home, she would’ve texted her by now. She always does.

Jisoo’s worry for her best friend skyrockets for a moment, until she realizes that Jennie is on a date. A very real date that isn’t just casually having dinner with her friends. Then it clicks.

_ Oh. _

Of course they’d still be out somewhere else, stupid Jisoo, she thinks to herself. Shaking her head at her own slowness, Jisoo decides to go home. She tries to ignore the fact that she decided to drive all the way here just because she couldn’t shake her thoughts out of the rings Jennie wore with her outfit. She wore all of their friendship rings, and Jennie only told Jisoo to wear one.

_ Could it be? _ Her heart echoes.

_ It can’t. _ Her mind fights back.

Sighing at the jumbled mess that is her mind, Jisoo also fights against the idea of sending Jennie a message to check if she’s okay because she’d rather not disturb her right now. When she finally decides to pick up her phone, Jisoo laughs humorlessly. Of course her phone decides to run out of battery now. 

It’s like the world’s telling her something.

With a heavy heart, Jisoo drives back to the dorm. The full moon sits high in the sky, barely illuminating the dark streets Jisoo drives through but remains a steady, unwavering presence nonetheless.

* * *

It’s midnight when Jennie finally makes it home. Jihyo and Jeongyeon were driven to the restaurant by one of their managers, and offered Jennie a ride home while the trio talked. When she enters the dorm, it’s dead silent. It worries Jennie quite a bit, but with light footsteps, she makes her way to Jisoo’s room. 

She wonders why the door to her best friend’s room is ajar as she knows that Jisoo hates leaving doors open. When Jennie enters, she sees Jisoo’s unkempt bed with the comforter halfway to the floor. Even the standee of herself stands crookedly. Why was Jisoo in such a hurry?

Worried, she wonders where her best friend might’ve gone at this hour. Instinctively, Jennie grabs the phone in her purse and tries to call Jisoo. The first three calls don’t get picked up, and it serves to worry Jennie even more. Before she can do something impulsive, the door swings open.

Turning around, Jennie freezes at the sight of a disheveled Jisoo in a padded coat and… pyjamas? Despite the strange attire, the moonlight illuminates her features in the dark room so well that it doesn’t matter what her best friend wears anyway. Relief floods into Jennie’s chest at the sight of Jisoo safe and sound.

“Jisoo unnie,” Jennie strides forward, cupping Jisoo’s cheeks as she checks up on her, “Are you okay? You weren’t answering my calls? Why are you in pyjamas, did you buy snacks from the convenience store—”

“Jennie,” Jisoo breathes out. She holds onto the hands holding her face and pulls them down to rest between them.

“I… I just got worried about you, so I went to the restaurant to check up on you,” Jisoo explains, looking down at their joined hands.

“You could’ve called me, unnie,” Jennie says, frowning as she pulls them closer to each other. Jisoo feels like she can’t breathe with how close they are, “What was so important that you had to go all the way there?” Jennie asks, knowing the expression on Jisoo’s face with the amount of time they’ve been the best of friends.

“I didn’t want to interrupt your date…” Jisoo trails off, but finds her courage again when Jennie squeezes their hands together, “But I realized that there’s something I needed to tell you, and it really couldn’t wait. I’m already too late, anyway, so I might as well,” Jisoo bites her lip. The older woman’s head jerks up suddenly, looking into Jennie’s eyes.

“What is it?”

“Jennie I…” Jisoo steps back and turns around quickly. Jennie unconsciously raises her brows when she hears Jisoo slapping herself in the face. Before she can ask if she’s okay, Jisoo’s quick to turn back around.

“I love you!” She practically yells. 

“I love you too?” Jennie says back automatically, but it comes out as a question. She wonders why Jisoo looks like she’s about to explode. 

Jennie’s heart soars at Jisoo’s words, but out of instinct, she tamps it down. Surely Jisoo doesn’t mean it in that way, right? She’s been acting strangely for the whole day, and it’s because of her date with Nayeon. Jennie would just be as worried as her best friend for things like that.

Maybe even a little (a lot) jealous. She’s in love with Jisoo, after all.

“I mean,” Jisoo tries not to stutter, “I’m in love with you.” 

_ Yeah, like that.  _ Jennie thinks to herself.

“Wait, what?!” She yells, and Jisoo winces.

“I’m sorry I’m like this,” Jisoo’s quick to apologize and she takes a few steps backward, stumbling over the standee in the darkness. Jisoo straightens the Jennie imitation before continuing, “I don’t know when it happened exactly, but I think I've always been drawn to you in a more than platonic way…”

Jennie’s mouth flops open and closes like a fish at Jisoo’s confession. Her head’s empty as she takes in the sight of what she now learns is how her best friend looks when she’s flustered. Jennie recalls the moments where Jisoo’s face was exactly like this and realizes that Jisoo wasn’t avoiding her, she was just… flustered? The discovery makes everything click together in Jennie’s head, and she can’t help but feel like an idiot for not noticing earlier.

Jisoo scratches the back of her head nervously, “Yeah, um, I just wanted to tell you that before you made things official with Nayeon. But I’m pretty sure I’m already way too late for that so I hope we can still stay friends— oof!”

Jennie is quick to move forward, closing in on Jisoo to tackle her into a tight embrace.

“Don’t you dare apologize for how you feel, Jisoo-yah,” Jennie cries out with tears pricking the corners of her eyes, “I’m in love with you too! I— I was just wondering when you’d notice. You could always read me like a book, after all…”

“I don’t read books, Jendeukie, you know that,” Jisoo quips until her laughter suddenly pulls down into a frown, “What about Nayeon?” She steps back and breaks their embrace. It hasn’t even been a full minute and Jennie already feels cold.

“What about her?”

“Isn’t she your girlfriend now?”

“No!” Jennie shouts, but is quick to compose herself, “I— Nayeon was helping me to… make you notice me by making you jealous. It was a really stupid plan, I know. I wasn’t supposed to tell you that we were going on an actual date when it really wasn’t, but I was getting tired of you not noticing me so I went with it anyway...”

“You should’ve just yelled at me for being blind. I think that would’ve worked without all of… this,” Jisoo laughs softly and takes a hold of Jennie’s hands again, “I’m sorry too, for not catching up faster. I… think I knew my feelings for you a long time ago, but I kept bottling them in because I was scared.”   
  


“You? Scared?” Jennie chuckles softly, “I’m supposed to be the scaredy cat between the both of us, unnie,” She shakes her head.

“Yeah. But you’re a lot braver than you give yourself credit for,” Jisoo says with sincerity in her eyes, “You’re no longer the sad little Jendeukie I met at the playground, huh?” She laughs softly, looking at Jennie with all the love in the world.

Jisoo slips off Jennie’s birthday gift out of her own finger. Jennie doesn’t take notice of the movement until she feels Jisoo’s hand lifting hers.

“What are you…” Jennie asks rather belatedly, distracted by the way Jisoo’s looking at her. 

Jisoo slips the wedding ring into Jennie’s finger, “This is me returning my feelings for you, Jennie,” The older woman says and Jennie can’t help but smile widely at her sudden cheesiness.

She also can’t help herself when she pulls Jisoo into a proper kiss, one that’s been long overdue. Jennie pulls the lapels of Jisoo’s coat to pull her closer, and Jisoo responds with the same eagerness as the older woman wraps her arms around Jennie’s waist. Jennie feels her heart fill with warmth at the little pecks Jisoo gives when they slowly pull away, wanting to prolong the kiss.

“If you didn’t like the ring, you could’ve just said so, unnie,” Jennie quips and Jisoo playfully pats Jennie's butt, her arms still wound around Jennie’s waist.

“What?! No, I love it! But since you bought it, that means you like it just as much too. So here you go!” Jisoo jokes, and Jennie slaps her shoulder.

Jisoo laughs at the powerless hit, “I’ll get you a wedding ring back, mark my words Jennie Kim!” Jennie can’t help but laugh with her best friend and kiss her again. She can’t seem to get enough of Jisoo, until she realizes one very important detail.

“You knew it was a wedding ring?” Jennie pulls back from the kiss, absolutely floored. If she knew it was a wedding ring this whole time, then why didn’t she say anything?!

“Yeah. I searched it up because it looked way too expensive to be just a simple ring… But I didn’t want to assume,” Jisoo explains herself shyly, an adorable contrast from her eagerness to kiss Jennie back just moments ago, “You might’ve just gotten it for me because it was really pretty, you know?”

“I know, I’m dumb,” JIsoo says, “But will you let this idiot take you out on a very real, legitimate, zero scam date where I pay for everything?” She asks with a silly grin, and Jennie feels like she’s swept off her feet.   
  


“Yes, and no,” Jennie decides to answer, knowing that she has an equally dumb looking smile too, “Yes, I’ll go out with you. But no, because we’re splitting the bill.”

“I wouldn’t let a lady do that on her first date!” Jisoo huffs as she sheds off her coat, and offers to do the same for Jennie’s cardigan. She then pulls on Jennie’s hand, bringing the two of them to the bathroom to prepare for bed. 

It’s natural how Jennie follows along. It's not much of a surprise— this has been their nightly routine for the past few years, after all. Even with how much their relationship with each other has changed in one night, nothing feels out of place at all.

In fact, it feels like the pieces are falling into all the right places.

“You’re also a lady on your first date,” Jennie quips back. Jisoo hands her a toothbrush while Jennie picks up the toothpaste and moves to place the substance onto both of their brushes.

The pair share the bathroom space meant for one person as they brush their teeth, and for the first time in a while their silence is comfortable. Sometimes, Jisoo ends up elbowing Jennie and vice versa, but they only get a good laugh out of it. Once Jisoo’s cleared her mouth of the toothpaste, she speaks up. 

“...Fair enough,” She says, shuffling a bit to get started on their skincare routine, “But we’re splitting seventy-thirty for it,” Jisoo grins.

Jennie can’t help but roll her eyes, “Sure, if you can do the math for it,” She says confidently as they help each other out complete their long skincare routine. Jisoo pouts at that.

“Okay, fifty-fifty it is,” Jisoo says once she’s washed her face off, “I don’t know why I love you when you’re like this,” She looks at Jennie still with a pout on her face, and Jennie just can’t help herself knowing that Jisoo’s all hers now.

“I love you too, Jisoo," Jennie says and pulls Jisoo into one of many more kisses that night.

* * *

When Jennie and Jisoo finally decide to sleep, (It was quickly decided when Chaeyoung yelled at them from Lisa’s room telling them to make out and  _ do things  _ some other time. Jennie looked like she wanted to disappear, and Jisoo can’t help but find the sight absolutely adorable.) they cuddle up to each other in bed like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Maybe it is, because Jisoo feels like she’s come home.

However, there's still one thing that plagues Jisoo’s mind despite their mutual confession.

The decision of whether she should voice her concern or not crosses her mind, but Jisoo realizes quickly that this is Jennie. The same Jennie she met crying on the swings. The same Jennie that would break rules for her even if she’s terrified at the prospect of getting in trouble. The same Jennie that stole her heart and returned it with her own.

She’d have to be extremely stupid to doubt her again.

"Jennie, If I— If I hadn't confessed in time, would you be dating… someone else?" Jisoo starts meekly, trying to hide the insecurity in her tone. Jennie seems to notice this quickly and adjusts their positions so that Jisoo's the little spoon in their usual cuddle.

"No, I came back here without her because I knew that I needed to stop running away from my feelings and confess to you. And even if you were to reject me had I confessed first, I don't think I'd be able to date anyone else properly... Not when you're all I can think about," Jennie answers honestly, lacing their fingers together. Ever the tactile person, Jennie begins to rub her thumb over the back of her hand and Jisoo can’t help but think that she wants to stay like this forever.

"What if you confessed first and I… I ask you for some time? What would you do then?" Jisoo asks with a shaky voice. Jennie gently pecks the nape of her neck and the older woman immediately melts at the warmth of her actions.

"If you told me to give you time, then I'd wait for you, no matter how long it takes," Jennie says, her voice not once wavering even as she speaks into Jisoo’s hair.

"You're always worth it, Jisoo,” Jennie concludes, squeezing their joined hands. Jisoo exhales and relaxes even more into Jennie’s touch, feeling all of her insecurities slowly melt away.

"Do… you need more time to think about your feelings for me?" Jennie asks, her tone mirroring Jisoo’s hesitant voice from earlier.

Jisoo’s quick to turn around so she faces Jennie, "No, no! If there's anything I'm completely sure of now, it's my feelings for you. It's just... I hope you're ready to take things slow with me, Jendeukie. I'm new to all of this, and we have our careers to balance and just… everything else, you know? We have to make a lot of time that we don't have, and that worries me.”

"That's okay, we can take it one day at a time," Jennie knocks their foreheads together a bit too strongly, causing the both of them to laugh despite the minor sting, "We can take our time. It's like what you said before. We have a forever for all of this.”

"Yeah, we do," Jisoo whispers into the night, " We really, really do.”

Jennie only hums, content as she kisses Jisoo’s lips one last time before closing her eyes to sleep. Looking at Jennie’s adorably perfect sleeping face, Jisoo can barely believe that this is all real. She whispers a final  _ I love you _ into Jennie’s lips and closes her eyes, ready for a new day.

  
She can’t believe that they’re finally,  _ finally  _ here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes there will be an epilogue because there was so much more angst than i had originally planned kjdfdfksljhf i’m sorry. no, i have no idea when it’ll be done but i started like 1 sentence : “) if you’ve gotten this far into my jensoo word vomit, thanks for reading!


	12. VIII  (Epilogue)

-VIII-

When the music ends, Jennie makes sure to look fiercely at the camera as she slows down her own breathing. Her ears are ringing when the audience roars in applause, another finished performance. The stage lights close, and Jennie is ushered to the back where she thanks the rest of her backup dancers and staff for their successful performance.

She’s been doing this for pretty much her whole life now. Every time she steps on stage to perform in front of her fans, it’s like her dreams coming true over and over again. It’s different without her favorite girls by her side, but Jennie doesn’t think she’ll ever get tired of performing on stage anytime soon.

When she sees Jihyo emerge from the make-up rooms, Jennie gives her a quick pat on the shoulder, with a quick  _ 'fighting!'  _ as the other vocalist smiles back and makes her way to the main stage.

“Jennie-ya!” A familiar voice calls once Jennie makes her way to the waiting room. Not long after, she’s tackled into a bone-crushing hug.

"Unnie!" Jennie retracts from their hug, surprised, "What're you doing here?" She asks, wondering why Joohyun's backstage and not at home at this hour.

"What? Am I not allowed to support my friends?" Joohyun asks, raising a brow.

"But your daughter—"

"Is with Seulgi-ya and is perfectly fine," Joohyun reassures Jennie as the older woman moves to fix wayward strands of her hair, "I hope..." Joohyun mumbles out softly, but with their proximity, Jennie doesn't miss it.

"You did well today. It's too bad your girlfriend missed your performance.." Joohyun says, ushering Jennie to sit on the couch as they monitor Jihyo's live performance from the TV screen.

"Thanks. It is, but I can't expect her to be at every stage when she's just as busy as I am, if not more," Jennie replies, but she can’t help but sigh. 

A staff member passes by and hands Jennie a bottle of water. The rapper quickly thanks them as the staff member quickly moves away to assist the rest of the sea of artists roaming around the area as well.

"You’re not wrong about that," Joohyun hums and gets up from her seat. Jennie remains seated and drinks her water, "Anyway, I'll be heading over to see how the newer groups are faring. They must be nervous for their stages since you started tonight’s stage so strongly. Wanna come with?"

"I'll pass, unnie," Jennie answers without hesitation, "I'm tired," She says while stretching her arms out, some of her joints popping because of her movement.

"Yeri's right," Joohyun quips as she stands by the doorway, "You are getting old."

"Hey!" Jennie shouts, "If I'm old, you're a hag!" The both of them both maturely stick their tongues out at each other until Joohyun makes her quick escape out the door. Chuckling softly, she slumps back onto the couch.

Jennie easily falls into a light sleep. She no longer has the same energy she did when she was younger, and Jennie finally gets what everyone says when they tell you to let loose in your twenties while you still can. In her sleep, she thinks that she’s extremely lucky to have experienced so much even with her packed schedules, especially when she used to tour as  _ Blackpink  _ with her girls. Time passes quickly as she rests, undisturbed even with the hustle and bustle of staff around her. 

When she’s finally woken up again by one of the staff, her make-up artists and stylists are fast to fix her up to make sure that she’s presentable before going back to the stage.

Jennie’s quick to stand side by side with Jihyo as all the idols thank their fans as the votes for the music show roll in. Both Jihyo and Jennie are relaxed despite the latter being in the top three for today. She’s had a fair share of wins in her career, Jennie thinks. She doesn’t mind anyone else winning today. 

Jennie’s already won anyway. 

Unlike most of the idols on stage, she has full control over when she has a comeback, and everything about her comeback. From the music to the photoshoots, and even the music video. Jennie watches the audience waving various light sticks and screaming for their favorites. It might’ve taken a whole lot to get here, but Jennie thinks that this is all worth it.

When the hosts announce a relatively new and an unknown girl group as today’s winner, Jihyo’s the first to run towards the group, engulfing them in a hug. She’s been rooting for them ever since they debuted. Jennie isn’t so far away to congratulate the underdogs. The four young women are starstruck at their presence, bowing multiple times in gratitude. Jennie’s quick to encourage the group to take the stage as the rest of the idols are ushered back to their waiting rooms to prepare to leave. 

When Jihyo and Jennie arrive backstage, someone elbows Jennie’s side. She’s just about to snap at the person for hitting her, until she hears their voice.

"Hey baby," A rather sleazy voice starts, "Want me to take you home?" The intruder, from what Jennie can see from her peripheral, wears sweatpants over an oversized hoodie.

Jennie can't help but shake her head and slap the intruder’s leg. She's trying too hard to be inconspicuous.

"Nayeon," Jennie starts, rolling her eyes, "Don't you have enough women in your life?"

"Oh, you!" Nayeon pretends to be flustered as she hits Jennie's shoulder coyly, "Want to be part of my collection?" She flips her hair for extra flair, and Jennie wonders why they're still friends.

"Nayeon," Jihyo says slowly and dangerously. Jennie wisely decides to take a few steps away from Nayeon.

"Jihyo! Baby!" Nayeon jumps at her voice, launching herself towards Jihyo, "The love of my life, a goddess in the flesh! Your performance today was perfect! People were so stunned they forgot to vote for you tonight, baby," She says and smothers Jihyo with kisses all around her face. Jihyo pretends to be disgusted, but doesn’t move to avoid the older woman’s affections at all.

Jennie rolls her eyes again, but can’t help but smile at the sight. A few years ago, Jihyo would’ve punched Nayeon’s shoulder or shove her away if the woman tried anything like this. Now, she lets Nayeon have her way with her. When Jihyo rolls her eyes, Jennie can tell that she's only pretending to ignore Nayeon's existence.

"Jennie, do you need anyone to take you home?" Jihyo decides to ask once Nayeon’s done kissing her face off, contentedly hanging off of Jihyo’s arm, “You look exhausted.”

"Hey, I offered first!" Nayeon whines and pushes at Jihyo.

"I have a better car," Jihyo returns the banter, and they start bickering like an old married couple. Jennie can’t help but feel a bit envious, feeling more alone than ever because her partner couldn’t make it.

"It's not your car, Ji," A new voice cuts into the conversation, stopping the two from knocking each other over completely as they bickered.

The newcomer approaches Jennie and tilts her chin up with a finger, “I’ll take you home tonight.”

At that Jennie can’t help but step back and laugh at Jeongyeon’s face. Jihyo already has her fingers massaging her temples exasperatedly, while Nayeon is practically on the ground, roaring with laughter.

Jennie’s going to roll her eyes out of their sockets one of these days, “As far as I know all three of you are girlfriends, why are you all flirting with me?” 

Nayeon’s the first to whine in full aegyo despite being a fully grown adult, “They always reject me!”

“It’s no fun when none of them get flustered anymore,” Jeongyeon shrugs it off casually. Nayeon takes that as an opportunity to tease Jeongyeon and the two begin to bicker.

“Correction; both of them were flirting with you, not me,” Jihyo says amidst the noise with her equally loud voice. She’s always the most sensible one among the three of them. Jennie can’t imagine Jeongyeon and Nayeon without Jihyo to balance them out. The three of them just work so perfectly together.

Although Jennie also can't imagine the opposite scenario, where Jeongyeon and Nayeon aren't there to support Jihyo. The only reason why the youngest of the three is a proud soloist now is through Nayeon and Jeongyeon's unwavering support, pushing her to not give up. Jeongyeon becoming a producer, and Nayeon a lyricist to support their baby (Nayeon's words, not hers) might have looked like a big sacrifice from an outsider's point of view but to Nayeon and Jeongyeon, their dreams have just come true yet again.

They've always wanted to make music on their own terms, after all.

Despite her train of thoughts, Jennie still manages to raise a brow at them. It doesn’t take long for both Nayeon and Jeongyeon to settle down.

Nayeon, now hanging off of Jeongyeon, reaches to take Jennie’s hand.

“We’re just worried about you, Jennie-ah,” She says honestly, “We don’t know if you’re going through a rough patch with your girlfriend, or if it’s something else, but she’s been... distant lately.”

“Not to mention, you’ve been looking really tired recently,” Jihyo jumps in before Jennie can even say anything, “And I know that kind of exhaustion isn’t just from dancing.”

“Yeah, didn’t you drive yourself here?” Jeongyeon adds, “You look too tired to get back home driving on your own, let us help you. I mean we’re friends, right?”

“Alright, fine,” Jennie gives in to their offer and looks at Nayeon pointedly, “But Nayeon’s definitely not driving,”

“That’s your loss,” Nayeon huffs, “I’m a great driver! The best, even!”

“Explain the dent on your car then,” Jihyo says, crossing her arms.

“Not my fault the guy wasn’t looking both ways before crossing the street,” The eldest says so casually that both Jeongyeon and Jihyo pale at her words. 

Jennie sighs, deciding to add fuel to the fire just because she can, “Yeah, I was there when it happened. The world could use less careless people anyway.”

“What?!” Jeongyeon and Jihyo yell, the latter already yanking Nayeon by the collar.

What a lovely relationship, Jennie thinks to herself as she watches Nayeon try to explain herself while being shaken harshly by one panicked Jihyo.

* * *

One chaotic drive home later, Jennie arrives home to a dark penthouse. Her dogs greeting her by the doorway are the only signs of life in the large place. Patting the dogs before sighing, Jennie makes her way to the kitchen to prepare a small meal. Despite her exhaustion, she manages to give all of the dogs a small snack and a good brushing down before preparing for bed.

Jennie makes sure to leave a note on top of the covered meal before she sleeps.

* * *

Jennie wakes up to a cold bed.

Shivering, Jennie brings the weighted blanket up to her nose, thankful for her lack of schedules today. However, she can't say the same about her bedmate. Did she even sleep here? Jennie wonders, now noticing how the other side of the king-sized bed looks almost too immaculate for it to have been used.

Frowning, Jennie's just about to get out of bed when the door kicks open and the pitter patter of small steps fill the room.

"Good morning, Jendeukie," The love of her life says, holding a breakfast tray in her hands. Their three dogs frolic around the foot of the bed, trying to catch a glimpse of the food high above them.

A genuine smile blooms on Jennie’s face at the sight of her lover. When the woman draws near, she sets the tray on the nightstand and moves to sit on Jennie’s lap.

“Breakfast?” She offers, already beginning to slice a piece of the pancake.

Jennie tilts her head to peer closer into her eyes, “What do you want, Jichu-ya?” She asks teasingly, taking a bite from the fork offered to her. Jennie smiles when she hears the young puppy, Dalgom the Second, whine as he tries to beg for food along with the older dogs Kai and Kuma.

“What? Can’t I be nice to my Jendeukie?” Jisoo tilts her head the opposite way to tease her. Jennie can’t help the way her heart soars whenever the older woman does these kinds of things for her. She also can’t help but smile even wider when Jisoo softly scolds the dogs for begging, telling them (as if they can understand her words) that they’ve already eaten breakfast.

“You can,” Jennie says softly before moving closely to peck Jisoo’s lips in the middle of her little scolding, “I missed you,” She takes the cutlery in Jisoo’s hands to put it aside and moves to hug her.

Jennie sighs into the hug, not realizing how much she’s missed her until Jisoo positively melts in her embrace. Ever since Jisoo set her sights with their friend Byulyi to run their own entertainment company when their contract in YG ended, Jisoo’s just been busier ever since. But that’s never been a problem to them; Jennie and Jisoo have always been able to make time for each other, even when Jisoo decided to go to university to study while working up to be where she is now: the Vice President of Sun and Moon Entertainment. 

Jennie tightens her hold on Jisoo, realizing how long it’s been. Ever since their company started up, Jennie’s been signed as a soloist for the company along with Jihyo and other notable veterans in the industry. It’s been years of hard work, and their company has been booming lately, so much so that there are times where she doesn’t see Jisoo for days on end despite living in the same home. And in all of their years of being together, that’s never happened before until recently.

It worries Jennie, if she’s being completely honest. The last time Jisoo overworked herself, she nearly collapsed, and Jennie hated that she didn’t see the signs of her exhaustion earlier. However she doesn’t want to dampen the mood by bringing it up, especially now that she finally has Jisoo in her arms after so long.

“I missed you too… I’m sorry for being so busy lately,” Jisoo says while Jennie rests her head in the junction between Jisoo’s neck and shoulder, kissing her softly.

“Make it up to me then,” Jennie mumbles in between kisses. She hears Jisoo’s breath catch when her kisses become much more than just simple pecks, and she revels in how Jisoo struggles to pull away when she reaches the older woman’s collarbone.

“Later,” Jisoo finally pulls Jennie away from her. The younger woman involuntarily whines at the loss while Jisoo tuts, “You should eat something first. I’m pretty sure you skipped dinner last night.”

“...Fine,” Jennie relents and pouts, her eyes trained on the small red marks she’s left on Jisoo, “But you owe me.”

“I’ll take care of you, don’t worry about that,” Jisoo says in a low voice that sends shivers down Jennie’s spine, “But first, breakfast!” The older woman chirps like nothing happened.

Jennie bites her lip and thinks that someday, Jisoo’s duality will definitely kill her.

* * *

Later that night Jisoo holds up a giant sign as she stands in an oversized coat, waiting for two certain someones to emerge from the crowd. As much as Jisoo could’ve just hired someone else to pick them up so she could get some semblance of sleep, she knows she wouldn’t want to miss them for the world. Not after missing them for years.

“Welcome back— yah!” Jisoo stops herself mid-greeting, face quickly turning red at the sight of the giant poster her best friends struggle to hold along with their luggage as they charge towards Jisoo like they didn’t just go through a whole eight hour flight.

“We’re home, unnie!” Lisa yells, garnering the attention of onlookers. Jisoo wants to smack her upside the head already for being so loud. The plan is to not get everyone’s attention— it would be unfortunate to be on the front page of the media when she’s been hiding their return for so long.

“Unnie! Do you like our poster?!” Rosé shouts, equally as loud and Jisoo gives up. Jisoo made sure to print them a pretty sign board to welcome them home, and all she gets is a poster of her face from five years ago in return.

It’s not long until Jisoo’s tackled into a tight embrace. She manages to speak despite being stuck in between her two tall friends, “I missed you guys too, but you didn’t have to emphasize how old I am.”

Lisa and Chaeyoung step back from their embrace, both looking scandalized. Jisoo thinks it’s a bit scary how synchronized the two are. She pretends to ignore the almost life-sized poster they’ve printed of her own face with hastily written text scrawled on top of it, reading:  _ ‘If found, return to Kim Jisoo!’ _

“I hate you both,” Jisoo says, looking at the photo of herself from way back in 2023. 

“We love you too!” Lisa and Rosé say together, waving the poster around proudly.

Jisoo sighs, and drags the two of them back to her car.

The things she puts up with, Jisoo thinks to herself, as she trudges through the airport receiving weird stares while she drags her two taller friends to the parking area. Jisoo sighs deeply again when she has to remind both of them to actually wear their seatbelts before driving away.

* * *

When Jisoo brings the couple to their hotel suite for their stay in Korea, it doesn’t take long for both Lisa and Chaeyoung to settle on the couch once the staff drop their luggage off, dragging Jisoo down with them to sit in the middle.

For a moment, they all sit in silence. The couple are exhausted from their eight hour flight from Australia to South Korea. Jisoo thinks back to when they disbanded and all decided to quit YGE. It was all or nothing, after all, and as soon as their contract with YG ended in 2023, Lisa and Chaeyoung announced their engagement, (sending both Jennie and Jisoo to almost die of cardiac arrest for their impulsive actions) and moved to settle down in Australia. Just about everyone was shocked at how easily the couple announced it over their SNS accounts, and how nonchalant they were about quitting their lives as idols. Jisoo knows it’s not as simple as the two had made it out to be on social media. She knows how hard it is to let go of a life you’re already used to, and to even go as far as letting everyone know more about their own private lives… 

Jisoo’s never been as brave as them. 

She’s never been more proud of them either, making sure that they left South Korea knowing that they’re loved by organizing their fanclub (which, by some miracle, had doubled in its numbers despite some hate being thrown at Lisa and Chaeyoung because of the news) to be there at the airport to offer their unwavering support. Although Jisoo made sure to hire security, just in case anything happened.

Jisoo promised to protect them after all.

Fast forward to now and well, Chaeyoung and Lisa have been happily married for five years. They also run a small dance studio together, teaching people of all ages how to dance in various styles, and Jisoo knows that they’re living their new dream together. 

Jisoo thinks it’s high time to turn her new dream into reality as well.

“I’m pretty sure you didn’t send us an invite all the way back here just to choreograph and teach the dance for your new girl group’s comeback, right?” Lisa pipes up, breaking the silence as she nudges Jisoo with her elbow.

“Not that we changed our minds, I mean you guys already approved our demo... It’s just, you literally have Momo, Seulgi, and other choreographers in the company to be doing that instead of us,” Chaeyoung adds, concern visible on her face, “Is something wrong? You know you can call us, right? We don’t care about what time you end up calling us, unnie. We get that you’re busy,” She continues, taking a hold of Jisoo’s hand.

“I know, Chaeyoungie,” Jisoo replies, patting both Lisa and Chaeyoung’s heads in gratitude, “It’s nothing like that, though. It’s just…”

Jisoo puts her hands down, pressing them against her own lap. She takes a deep breath and squeezes her eyes shut, preparing for the chaos to come.

“I’m planning to propose to Jennie.”

“WHAT?!”   
  
“FINALLY!”

Lisa and Chaeyoung scream at the same time, tackling Jisoo and nearly breaking the couch in the process.

"Do you think it's too soon?" Jisoo asks while slightly winded out from their hug in between the couple’s excited yelling.

"Too soon?" Chaeyoung starts with her trademark small font voice, "Too soon?! Jisoo unnie, it's been _ eight  _ years, it’s almost your anniversary!" She shouts in her (also) trademark caps lock voice.

"You've been dating for longer than some have been married!" Lisa joins in, "What's taken you both so long?"

"We like taking it slow, okay?" Jisoo huffs, while the couple look at Jisoo disbelievingly.

“ _ I  _ like taking it slow… so we don’t rush and do anything stupid before we’re ready a-and, it’s in my name, Jisoo  _ Turtle Rabbit _ Kim, you know?” Jisoo tries and her friends can’t help but roll their eyes at the joke, "At least we're here now, right? I mean, if she says yes..." Jisoo squeaks out meekly, and the pair can’t help but smile endearingly at the eldest.

“You’re not wrong,” Chaeyoung relents and shrugs, patting Jisoo’s head in reassurance.

“So what’s the plan?” Lisa asks eagerly, already beginning to inch closer and closer to her unnie.

“Well, I’ll need both of your help for this… if that’s okay with you guys,” Jisoo starts, “I already have a few others on board but I want to have everything ready before this month ends. I don’t want to keep Jennie waiting for too long…”

“Of course we’ll help!” Chaeyoung eagerly bounces in her seat while Lisa rolls her eyes and says, “Jennie would wait forever for you, you dummy.” 

With that Jisoo takes her phone out of her pocket and begins to explain her detailed plan to the pair. Their smiles only grow bigger the more Jisoo talks about what she plans to do doe her ninth anniversary slash proposal date with Jennie.

* * *

For the next few nights, Jisoo keeps in frequent contact with Lisa and Chaeyoung to help enact her plan. Given the scale of it, she’s also managed to convince a few other friends to help her out. With Byulyi, Yongsun, and Yeri managing some of the more difficult logistics of her operation, she makes sure to have Joohyun and Seulgi check up on her girlfriend as well. 

Jisoo knows how absent she’s been recently— it’s almost been a month of arranging everything, and she’s thankful that Lisa and Chaeyoung agreed to help right in the middle of it all— so she needs to make sure that Jennie’s okay and not completely upset with her.

Jisoo feels like she’s doing the bare minimum because of everything she’s been working on, but she prides herself in always being able to find time to have their weekend date nights together. She also makes sure that Jennie knows that she loves her despite her coming home so late at night.

Tiptoeing towards the occupied bed, Jisoo makes sure that her steps are quiet. Kneeling on the unoccupied side of the bed, she leaves a gentle kiss on Jennie’s forehead. It causes the younger woman to stir a bit, her hand reaching out blindly for Jisoo. Smiling, the older woman offers a sleeping Jennie her hand. Jennie seems to settle when Jisoo laces their fingers together and relaxes almost immediately. Almost, because Jisoo doesn’t miss the small frown that forms in Jennie’s face when she notices how Jisoo’s hands have become littered with small scratches and calluses.

Jisoo tries to hold back her tears when she notices the finer details of Jennie’s face, illuminated by the quarter moon’s light. Even years of self-care and cosmetics can't hide the more subtle signs of aging on her lover’s face. But that's quite alright, Jisoo thinks, because Jennie ages just like fine wine. Jisoo can’t help but feel sentimental as she takes in Jennie's peaceful state. It still feels like yesterday— and not nearly nine years ago— when she clumsily stumbled out a confession to her best friend. Jisoo can’t help but sneak another kiss to her fluffy cheeks at the memory. 

“I’m sorry that you’re always the one waiting for me... But just wait a little more for me, Jendeukie-yah,” Jisoo whispers before settling into bed.

* * *

Jennie wakes up late. 

Which, on another day, would make her panic and immediately get dressed, skipping breakfast and all to catch up to her schedules. Luckily, it's the weekend and her day off as well. Her heart soars when she realizes what day tomorrow is as well: her ninth year anniversary with Jisoo. When Jennie turns her head to look for her girlfriend, she sees Kuma and Kai snuggled against each other instead. Meanwhile, Dalgom the Second can be heard pitter pattering towards the foot of the bed.

"Ji… soo?" Jennie mumbles out but doesn't receive a response. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she trudges out of the bedroom.

Jennie frowns when she realizes that the apartment is empty. On the dining table lies a plate of Jennie's favorites: kimchi fried rice topped with egg, and some dumplings on the side as well. It seems that Jisoo even made sure to brew her coffee as well.

Jennie jumps when the door to the penthouse suddenly creaks open, revealing Seulgi holding a giant bouquet of… Azaleas? As far as Jennie knows, those flowers aren’t supposed to be in season. They’re supposed to bloom much, much later, Jennie thinks.

"Uh," Jennie blurts out in her slightly distracted haze, "I think you got the wrong place, Seulgi unnie. Joohyun unnie lives with you now, remember?" She says, shuffling back a bit to hide behind a chair when she realizes that she's still in her pyjamas.

Seulgi sends her a bright eye smile, "Nope. I'm pretty sure a certain Kim Jisoo wouldn't have these flowers delivered to anyone else," She grins and hands Jennie the expensive looking bouquet.

"She said to tell you that she's sorry that she might have to skip your date night tonight. Byul and her have a meeting coming up with potential investors and it seemed really important…" Seulgi trails off, scratching the back of her head.

Jennie frowns as her mood sours. Even as she appreciates the flowers, Jisoo's never missed on one of their date nights regardless of how busy she is. And tomorrow is their anniversary too... She wants to understand her girlfriend, she really does. 

"Seulgi-yah," Jennie says in a small voice, "Do you think Jisoo and I are… okay? She isn't getting tired of me, right?" Jennie asks with her lower lip wobbling.

Jennie misses it, but Seulgi's eyes widen comically, her expression close to panic. 

"Of course not, Jennie-yah!" Seulgi strides forward and pats Jennie's head comfortingly, "Jisoo-yah adores you! She never stops talking about you. It's just things have been picking up lately at the company, you know?"

Jennie doesn't really feel comforted by her words. It's the same thing Jisoo's told her and she's getting quite tired of it. However, Seulgi doesn't know that and Jennie would rather not take her frustrations out on the kind woman.

"Okay… But why did she send you here? She could've easily hired someone else to deliver these flowers," Jennie asks, deciding to shift away from more sensitive topics.

"Yeah! But she wanted me to make sure you were well, oh, and to make sure your breakfast stays hot," Seulgi says, gesturing at the home cooked meal.

"Well, then tell Jisoo I'm fine, and that she really didn't have to do all of this… I'm disturbing your weekend with Joohyun and Areum, aren't I?"

"You aren't, don't worry!" Seulgi reassures her again, pulling out a chair guiding Jennie to sit at the breakfast table, "I was headed to the grocery near your place when Jisoo called me to check on you, so it's no biggie, Jennie-yah. Relax and have some breakfast, okay?"

"Okay," Jennie relents, "Thank you again, unnie," She says gratefully as Seulgi waves goodbye, petting an eager Dalgom the Second before she leaves the apartment.

* * *

In the middle of Jennie's breakfast, Nayeon calls her up and the two of them have a quick chat. Jennie accidentally and offhandedly mentions that Jisoo's skipped their date night for the first time. All of a sudden, Nayeon's adamant that she and her girlfriends will come over for a friendly date night instead. She may have also heard some mumbling about having a word with Jisoo, but Jennie pretends not to hear that part of the trio’s conversation.

Jennie smiles when she ends the call, feeling thankful that she has such caring friends.

* * *

Jennie retracts her words hours later when she’s held by two pairs of long arms carrying her out of her apartment, blindfolded. She has no idea where Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo are. She only remembers relaxing on the couch with them, on the verge of falling asleep due to a food coma after being pretty much force fed by the trio until the door was slammed open. Screaming all throughout the elevator ride down, Jennie’s then unceremoniously shoved into a van.

“LISA! CHAEYOUNG!” Jennie yells at the top of her lungs, trying to free her hands to get rid of the blindfold, “WHAT THE HELL?!” She screams out profanities in English.

“I told you! Both of you were too obvious,” Another voice scoffs, coming from the front seat from what Jennie can tell.

"Don’t worry Jennie unnie, we’re not here to kill you. You can stop yelling now,” The woman in front says, and Jennie can hear the engine of the vehicle starting up.

“I’ll stop yelling if you tell me what the hell is going on!” Jennie shouts, and the two people beside her struggle to keep Jennie upright on the seat as the van moves, “Where are we going? And aren’t you both supposed to be in Australia?!”

“That’s for us to know, and for you to find out,” Jennie finally realizes that the snarky responses couldn’t be anyone else other than,

“Yeri, I will burn your Ariana Grande collection if you don’t stop the car right now!” Jennie decides to threaten her.

“Not if we dump your body off a cliff,” Yeri says nonchalantly, “But I didn’t get paid enough to hide a body, you know?”

“Jisoo paid you?!” Lisa squawks in surprise. Jennie's suddenly buffeted by the force that Chaeyoung puts into slapping Lisa's shoulder while trying to avoid Jennie in between them.

"SHH!" Chaeyoung tries to get her wife to be quiet, “She paid for our tickets back, at least,” Chaeyoung tries to whisper softly, but Jennie catches her words. She briefly wonders why Jisoo would want Chaeyoung and Lisa back in Korea all of a sudden.

"Why would Jisoo have me kidnapped? We literally live in the same place!" Jennie says, exasperated. Either this is all just a huge prank by Lisa and Chaeyoung to welcome themselves back to Korea, or Jisoo actually has something planned up her sleeves. Both possibilities are plausible; Jisoo and Lisa do share the same brain cell when it comes to wacky ideas like this after all.

Jennie sighs in her seat as she gives up resistance, wondering if this could be the reason for Jisoo coming home so late. She can always tell if something's up, more often than not, sometimes even ruining Jisoo's surprises for her. With that thought in mind, Jennie decides to play along in the off chance that this is one of Jisoo's plans.

"Where are Nayeon, Jeongie, and Jihyo?" Jennie decides to ask instead, nudging Lisa to use her shoulder as a makeshift pillow to relax.

"Not important—" Yeri tries to interject,but is quickly interrupted.

"I told you Jennie likes me the most," Jeongyeon's voice rings out victoriously from behind her.

"Shut up, she just called you Jeongie because your name is too long," Nayeon bites back.

"Look, I'm sure Jennie just said whatever came to mind first—" Jihyo tries to speak up

"That means she thought about me first, take that, loser!" Nayeon says victoriously, and Jennie can already imagine the older woman elbowing Jeongyeon.

Before Nayeon and Jeongyeon can even begin to bicker like the old married couple Jennie thinks the three of them should be, Jennie cuts through their conversation.

"Jihyo-ya is my favorite because she can drive clutch without running anyone over," Jennie says, causing Nayeon to let out an audible gasp, "Now be quiet and let me sleep. Just wake me up when we get there," Jennie says to no one in particular as she leans back to get some rest.

Surprisingly, everyone seems to have listened to her words. The ride goes silent, save for Jeongyeon and Nayeon’s grumbling, as well as the radio playing soft music. Jennie’s quick to fall asleep in the silence of the ride.

* * *

When Jennie's awoken, she almost screams when her eyes are still met with darkness, completely forgetting that she'd been blindfolded. Accepting her fate, she lets both Lisa and Chaeyoung usher her out of the vehicle.

"Miss Jennie Kim," A deep and rich voice greets, "Right this way," Jennie immediately recognizes Byulyi's distinct voice as she's led into a room with her blindfold taken off.

Jennie blinks rapidly, adjusting to the harsh fluorescent lights of the room when she finally comes face to face with Byulyi in a dashing suit. Jennie holds her laughter at bay when she realizes that Byulyi almost feels like her personal butler with the way she's being assisted.

"She'll explain everything to you later, but first get dressed," Byulyi says, "And yeah, wear those rollerskates too and I'll guide you out when you're ready," Byulyi doesn't wait for a response as she turns around to leave the room. The windows and blinds are closed, and the room is so plain that Jennie doesn't have a single idea of where they've taken her. More importantly, she doesn't even remember how to skate; it's been years!

Sighing at the thought of skating again, Jennie decides to get into the clothes prepared for her. She can tell the comfy yet stylish outfit laid out on the bed was picked out by Jisoo. The padded, oversized coat that doesn’t go too well with the whole outfit must be Jisoo worrying about the cold at the last minute. With a wide smile, she gets dressed, excited for what's to come.

* * *

When Byulyi leads Jennie out the door, Jisoo can’t help but grin at the sight. Jennie’s struggling to balance on her roller skates while blindfolded. She can tell that Byulyi’s also having a hard time guiding her to the empty roller skating rink. However, her grin only grows when Byulyi lets go of Jennie’s hands. Her girlfriend immediately screaming at Byulyi to not let go because she’ll definitely fall.

But before that can even happen, Jisoo’s quick to move towards Jennie, holding her in her arms. She takes a good look at Jennie, and even under the multicolored disco lights of the rink, she still looks absolutely stunning. 

“Boo,” Jisoo says and squeezes Jennie’s sides.

“YAH!” Jennie squeaks out in surprise and smacks Jisoo’s arm, nearly slipping out of shock. Jisoo’s arms holding her steady are the only thing stopping her from doing so.

Slowly Jisoo moves Jennie’s hair behind Jennie’s ear and unties the blindfold covering her eyes. Jennie blinks and covers her eyes for a bit, adjusting to the light. When Jennie’s bright eyes come into full view, Jisoo forgets how to breathe. Her eyes shine brighter than any of the large, tacky disco balls that litter the area.

“Hi,” Jennie says softly, staring back into obsidian pools.

“...Hey,” Jisoo says slowly, breathing in slowly, “Come around here often?” She manages to joke.

Jennie cocks an eyebrow up, “You kidnapped me here,” She says jokingly, and Jisoo can’t help but smile sheepishly. With all the yelling Jisoo heard while she was on the phone with Yeri earlier, she has a good idea of how everything went down.

“That’s… true,” Jisoo starts, “But that’s because I missed you, so I wanted to surprise you… but you always seem to find out before I get to it, so I had to take some drastic measures,” At that, Jennie giggles along with Jisoo.

When their laughter dies down into a comfortable silence, Jisoo decides to usher Jennie to skate with her slowly around the rink. Jisoo skates naturally while Jennie holds onto her hand with a death grip despite knowing how to skate herself. Given that it’s definitely been a while since they’ve last skated, Jisoo’s sure that Jernnie’s muscle memory will come back to her.

“Jendeukie, I’m so sorry I’ve been so busy lately,” Jisoo says softly, stopping them in their tracks, “Let me make it up to you tonight.”

With a nod, Jisoo takes the lead and they skate around together. Just as they finish a lap of slowly skating around the rink to let Jennie get used to the feeling of skating again, the disco lights brighten up and loud music begins to blast from the speakers. Bright stage lights suddenly light up at the far balcony that overlooks the roller skating rink, revealing Byulyi, Yongsun, Wheein, and Hwasa all dressed up and standing behind microphones as they begin to sing along to  _ Dingga. _

“No way!” Jennie slaps Jisoo’s arm when she notices Mamamoo doing a live performance for just the two of them, laughing yet grinning brightly when Jisoo pulls her to go at a much faster speed, “You didn’t have to do this, Jisoo-yah!” She yells out of excitement when Jisoo spins her around, mirroring the same grin.

“Yes I did!” Jisoo shouts back, letting go of Jennie without the younger woman even realizing it. She’s in complete awe at the pure unadulterated joy that paints her lover’s face.

“You deserve it, Jendeukie!” She yells and heads over to the bar at the side of the rink. Dahyun and Chaeyoung stand behind the minibar drinking milkshakes, the tiny duo waggling eyebrows at her when she arrives in front of them. With a roll of her eyes, the duo prepare two ice cream cones for her, a cone of Jennie’s favorite ice cream, and one for herself as she skates back to a giggling Jennie.

Jennie’s much too distracted as she cheers on Mamamoo singing and dancing on the balcony. The energetic group jump as they sing with wild abandon, and Jisoo is only slightly worried that they might break the platform with how much they’re moving. Wheein nearly leans too far into the railings, but Yongsun and Hwasa seem to hold the fastest reflexes as they pull her back in, singing happily like nothing happened.

“For you,” Jisoo beams, handing Jennie a cone of milk-flavored ice cream. Jennie happily accepts the gift with a laugh, pulling Jisoo with her free hand to peck her cheek.

It doesn’t take long for the two of them to start messing around as they skate, chasing each other and dancing around like they’re ten years younger than they actually are. Jisoo enjoys her time while trying to keep her cool, trying to not let her own nerves get to her. Meanwhile, Mamamoo starts up another energetic number as the couple finish their little midnight snack.

As if on cue, Jennie suddenly gasps and stops skating when the song ends, and Mamamoo mellows down to slower songs. The multicolored disco lights fade and change into a more neutral color to match the mood. Jisoo hopes Jennie doesn’t notice the shadows that are pushing each other in the tech room in the far corner of the rink. The older woman winces when she sees one shadow fall versus two other shadows that are high fiving each other victoriously, (She hates that she can tell that Yeri and Joy’s won the battle, and Seulgi’s the one on the ground) and pretends to see absolutely nothing.

“Jisoo, it’s us!” Jennie says when she spots a frame on the wall, illuminated by bright lights. The photo is blurry, but Jisoo remembers the first photo they ever took together with her mother’s digital camera as clear as day.

Jisoo smiles softly when Jennie gasps at the sight of another frame suddenly being illuminated by bright lights, showing yet another memory of them. Slowly, Jennie pulls Jisoo with her as they follow each and every frame that lights up around the rink. Every step they take is another photo of them as the years passed by. From their days in the playground to their debut as Blackpink and eventual disbandment, every milestone they share together is present on the walls of the rink. Despite setting up the photos herself, Jisoo can’t help but feel her eyes water in complete disbelief of how long it truly has been.

When Jennie suddenly stops skating once they’ve rounded the rink, Jisoo doesn’t know what to think when she lets go of her hand as well.

“Jendeukie?”

“You’re so…” Jennie sniffles, and Jisoo briefly watches how Jennie’s trying to aggressively wipe her tears before turning her around to be face to face with her girlfriend. With a small frown, Jisoo wipes away Jennie’s tears for her, hoping that she didn’t actually upset her girlfriend.

“You— you suddenly disappear on some days, and when you were home, you were so distant,” Jennie starts, “It was really confusing… and then— then you do something like this!” She shouts, with more tears streaming down her face. Jisoo struggles to wipe them all off until Jennie takes her hands into her own.

“I’m sorry. I wanted to surprise you,” Jisoo says softly, “Happy anniversary, Jendeukie.”

“Happy anniversary, Chu. I love you,” Jennie replies dreamily, “I still can’t believe it’s been nine years,” Jennie sighs, leaning her forehead on Jisoo’s.

“And it’s been nearly twenty-eight years since we’ve known each other,” Jisoo adds and doesn’t hesitate when she kisses Jennie square on the lips. The younger woman responds eagerly as she wraps her arms around Jisoo’s neck.

Before either of them can get carried away, Jisoo pulls away causing Jennie to whine.

“I have another surprise for you,” Jisoo says, still a bit breathless from their kissing.

“You really shouldn’t have,” Jennie says almost bashfully, sneaking another kiss before continuing, “I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

“You don’t have to,” Jisoo replies, “You deserve everything, Jendeukie,” She says with bright eyes and takes Jennie’s hand.

“Come with me,” Jisoo says, willing her voice to stop shaking.

Jennie follows without hesitation as they take off their skates and leave the rink.

* * *

When they exit the skating rink, Jennie realizes two things. The first is that they’re all the way back in their hometown, Gunpo, and the second is that it’s dark and absolutely freezing. Jennie quickly moves to zip up the thick coat Jisoo prepared for her. At the same time, Jisoo moves to stuff some hot packs into her inner pockets. She pretends to not see Jeongyeon and Jihyo practically chucking the hot packs towards Jisoo from a bush they were hiding in before Jisoo handed it over to her.

“Sorry, it’s really cold out,” Jisoo unnecessarily apologizes, “But we won’t be out here for too long, I promise,” She says, and Jennie can sense that Jisoo’s nervous for some reason.

Jennie takes Jisoo’s hand into her own, “It’s okay. I’d still stay with you even in the cold. You’re my personal heater, after all,” She teases, and that seems to put Jisoo at ease, somewhat.

Jisoo rolls her eyes in a way that’s reminiscent to how Jennie usually does before kissing her cheek, leading the way to their next destination. It isn’t hard to know where to go next, because the street lights along the road suddenly light up to wherever they’re headed. Jennie briefly wonders how much Jisoo spent on this, time, effort, and money wise because she can’t imagine any of this to be easy at all.

Out of the two of them, Jennie’s usually the one taking the lead in their relationship. She pulls out all of the stops to make sure that Jisoo has an experience that she won’t ever forget while Jisoo is the one who usually takes them out for less extravagant (but equally as satisfying) dates, bringing Jennie back down to earth when she needs it the most. The fact that Jisoo’s went out of her way to prepare this for their anniversary sends not just butterflies, but the whole zoo straight to Jennie’s stomach.

When they close in on their destination, Jennie can’t help but freeze up at the sight of their childhood playground as her memories flood her mind. She can already feel the tears pricking her eyes again, and they aren’t even there yet. Jisoo seems to sense this too, as she rubs comforting circles on her lower back, leading her towards the playground’s swings.

As soon as they sit down fairy lights suddenly decorate the area like fireflies, revealing decorations elegantly wrapped around the whole playground. With more lights surrounding the area, Jennie can see paper flowers modeled to look like Azaleas decorated around the area. Jennie’s breath catches at the sight and immediately looks to Jisoo for an explanation. But all she finds is sheer adoration on Jisoo’s face as she admires her. Jennie can’t help but fall over and over again for her best friend.

When they start gently swinging together, Jennie hears the faint sound of music. Looking around for the sound, Jennie finds Lisa and Seulgi strumming acoustic guitars. Dahyun’s on the keyboard, while Joohyun holds a violin. Wendy and Rosie sing softly to the music. 

Jennie can’t pinpoint what the song is, but it sounds absolutely nostalgic. They group gives her an encouraging smile, with Chaeyoung gesturing for her to ignore them and to pay attention to her girlfriend instead. Jennie can’t help but feel suddenly shy and loved at the same time. She can’t imagine all of the strings Jisoo had to pull to drag all of their friends to help her out to arrange this date.

“Do you remember when we first met?” Jisoo asks as she looks down, kicking her sneakers across the dirt.

Jennie hums, looking up at the night sky. She tries to stop herself from crying, “I was a crying mess, but you made it all better. At the time, I thought you were so brave to be able to come up and talk to strangers just like that. When I got to know you, I thought you were really the bravest person on earth until you screamed when a butterfly landed on your arm,” Jennie chuckles softly with Jisoo at the memory.

“You know after I gave you that piece of yarn, I told my mom that I wouldn’t leave you alone. Ever,” Jisoo says, turning her head to face Jennie. Sensing Jisoo’s eyes on her, she moves to do the same.

“I think you did well on that promise,” Jennie responds, having an idea of where their conversation is going. She hopes her intuition is right.

“Yeah, but I plan to do even better on it,” Jisoo starts, “I went to visit your parents last week… I promised them that I would take care of you, and never leave your side. Your mom laughed at me and told me that they’d given me their blessing the moment we started dating,” Jisoo shakes her head with a smile. The song playing behind them grows louder as it reaches its climax, but Jennie can barely hear it with her whole being solely focused on Jisoo.

Jennie’s eyes widen and her body trembles, realizing where this is all headed.

_ Finally. _

“Jisoo—”

“Jennie Kim,” Jisoo says abruptly, almost out of breath. She kneels on one knee rather clumsily, presenting a closed ring box right in between them, “I promised that I’d get you a ring too, didn’t I?” She chuckles nervously, and Jennie has half the mind to smack her on the shoulder for joking at a time like this.

“Will you marry me?” Jisoo asks with certainty and years of love laced in her words that she doesn’t need to explain any further. They’ve known each other for more than half of their lives; one look is all they need to understand each other. Jisoo presents her a beautifully braided ring with a small ruby that rests beautifully at its center.

One look at Jisoo’s eyes, and the dam bursts. Jennie can no longer hold her tears back when she tackles Jisoo into a hug, sending both of them to the ground as she cries. Jisoo doesn’t even get the chance to slip the ring on Jennie’s finger when she hears the clamp of the ring box shut close to save it from falling.

“Yes! Of course I will!” Jennie yells, her voice hoarse as they tumble down on the damp grass. The couple don’t even realize that their friends have stopped playing, and instead are screaming at the top of their lungs.

“I’m sorry I made you wait for so long Jennie,” Jisoo mumbles into Jennie’s shoulder with a watery voice, “You’ve been hinting at this for so long, and I— I only got to it now because I wanted everything to be perfect for you,” She tries to explain herself. Jennie shakes her head rapidly, closing the distance.

“It’s okay, Chu,” Jennie kisses her forehead and meets Jisoo’s bright, shiny eyes with her own, “We’re here now,” She says shakily, her tears still falling down her cheeks. Slowly, they both stand up from the grass and Jisoo takes the opportunity to slip the ring onto Jennie’s finger. Immediately after, she takes a small handkerchief from her pocket and dabs at the fresh tears that stain her now fiancé’s face. 

Jennie shakes her head and takes the cloth from Jisoo, dabbing at the streak of tears that decorate Jisoo’s cheeks as well. Jisoo smiles sheepishly at the action, not realizing that she’s crying too.

After fixing each other up, Jennie studies the stunning ring on her finger. Three different metals are woven with each other, yet it remains a solid band on the inner layer. The silver metal matches their first proper friendship ring that Jennie could afford to buy. Whie the rose gold band matches the copper debut ring that Jisoo had given her, and finally the gold and the three metals braided altogether match the trinity ring she’d given Jisoo on her birthday.

The braided style of the ring also reminds Jennie of a more intricate version of their promise ring that rests right beside her new ring. She can even feel the letters engraved inside of the ring, and Jennie doesn’t doubt that Jisoo must’ve gotten  _ JJ4EVA  _ embedded on it.

On the center of the ring lies an elegant ruby. Jennie smiles, thinking that the choice for having a ruby might be because of the strawberry ring pops they loved to have and the red string Jisoo happily handed to her when they were kids; the ring that started it all. The engagement ring isn’t extremely extravagant, and Jennie can see some imperfections with the braiding and consistency of the metal but she thinks it’s absolutely perfect. Jennie can’t imagine how much thought Jisoo put into getting this custom made—

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it better,” Jisoo blurts out, stopping Jennie in her tracks. She whips her head up out of shock when she quickly connects the dots, “My first few attempts were worse, though. You have the best version of it because you deserve the best and I have the sort of matching second best attempt—”

“Jisoo, _ you _ made this?” Jennie cuts her off in complete disbelief. She didn’t think her love for Jisoo could grow even more when she touches the handcrafted ring on her finger in complete awe.

“Yeah, I…” Jisoo starts and shakes her head. Jennie smiles lovingly. She already knows that this is the beginning of a very long winded explanation from her fiancé.

“I wasn’t actually working for the company after work. I was busy the past month because I wanted this ring to be special… We have so many rings together, and I wanted to make something that reminded us of everything that we’ve been through. I couldn’t find anything on the market that was good enough, so I asked for help to learn how to make rings. Braiding tiny pieces of expensive metal is torture to my hands and wallet— and I still kind of suck— and well… there it is. If you want something else I could just—” 

Just as the anxiety seeps into Jisoo’s voice, Jennie tugs on the front of Jisoo’s blouse and kisses her soundly. She can’t help but smile widely when her fiancé looks absolutely dazed from the action.

“I love you so much,” Jennie whispers against her lips, “This is perfect, and you’re perfect. Even if you gave me another string of yarn, I’d still say yes and love it all the same,” Jennie says sincerely, and Jisoo shakes her head.

“That wouldn’t do,” Jisoo responds playfully, “The yarn won’t match your expensive aesthetic. I should’ve gotten you a silk ring instead!” She jokes, and Jennie can't help but wrap her arms around Jisoo’s neck. Jisoo returns the embrace by winding her arms around Jennie’s midsection.

The two of them sway peacefully to the silence of the park, none of them realizing that their friends have all gathered impatiently on the playground’s benches.

“I love you, Kim Jisoo,” Jennie rests her head on Jisoo’s shoulder as they hold each other tenderly.

“I love you too, Kim Jennie,” Jisoo chuckles all of a sudden at a sudden realization, “Aren’t you glad we won’t have to choose between surnames?”

“If we did, you’d be taking mine,” Jennie jokes back, pushing at her weakly.

“No, you’d have mine!” Jisoo’s quick to protest.

“Oh my God!” Chaeyoung yells, causing both Jisoo and Jennie to jump, “Make it stop!” When the couple turns their gaze, they finally notice all of their friends sitting around in the playground. They all share happy yet tired smiles from all the preparation that had gone into making Jisoo’s plans a reality.

“Just get a room!” Lisa and Byulyi shout, and both Jennie and Jisoo roll their eyes.

“When can we go home?!” Nayeon joins in on the yelling, causing everyone to erupt into joyful laughter as Yeri stomps around like a petulant child despite her age, demanding a raise for making everything go so smoothly.

“Shut up!” Jennie’s quick to yell back as she turns back and kisses Jisoo, causing everyone to collectively celebrate, and then groan at the same time when they notice the pair won’t be stopping their little session any time soon.

* * *

“And to think I was about to smack Jisoo in the face!” Nayeon says loudly as she stomps, heading back to the van after everyone else decided that they were all too tired to wait for both Jennie and Jisoo to stop sucking at each other’s faces, “Why’d she tell all of you, but leave us three in the dark?!”

“You don’t know how to shut up, unnie,” Yeri shrugs, “Of course she wouldn’t let you in on the plan,” She says and snickers, causing Nayeon to put her in a headlock.

“Well at least they’re here now,” Joy says, pointedly ignoring Yeri’s struggle, “Dibs on Red Velvet singing during the ceremony and the reception, you guys already did the engagement!” She points at Yongsun and the rest of Mamamoo.

“Excuse me, if you think we’re going to give up singing during the wedding, you’ve got another thing coming!” Yongsun shouts, causing Wheein and Hwasa to cover their ears due to the sheer volume.

“Step aside,” Jihyo interjects all of a sudden, “We’re closer to Jennie, so Twice will definitely be singing on the wedding day,” She says firmly, her loud voice nearly matching Yongsun’s. The tiny duo, Dahyun and Chaeyoung nod fervently at their leader’s words.

“What makes you think you guys will sing?!” Both Lisa and the tall Chaeyoung pipe up, the former opening the door to the first van they get to, “We’re their best friends!”

While there are two vans available for them to pack themselves into, they all find themselves occupying just one as none of them want to back down from their little feud. They fight all the way till morning, arguing passionately despite being squashed like sardines inside, forgetting all about Jennie and Jisoo who’ve already started to make their way back to the hotel room Jisoo has booked. The couple decided to head to the hotel on foot instead of joining their chaotic friends who still haven’t moved out from the single van they all don’t fit into.

The couple caught their little fight they passed by the van with the initial intention of telling them to go ahead, but Jennie and Jisoo are too scared to break the fight just to tell them that they’ve already chosen IU to do the honors of singing for their wedding day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this was supposed to be just a small little epilogue,, it evolved into a 9k word monster kjhddfkjds
> 
> but anyway thanks for reading more jensoo word vomit : " )

**Author's Note:**

> if no one's going to write more jensoo content, i guess i have to write something myself jKJDSFHFKSDKF
> 
> expect either really fast updates or really sporadic ones, there's no in between : ')


End file.
